Warriors Celebration Includes Broken Glass, Augusta and a Cigar for Riley Curry
Every team celebrates an NBA Finals win differently.
The Miami Heat pop champagne in South Beach. The San Antonio Spurs ice their bunions and nap. Drake does whatever they do, and the world spins on.
Judging by a piece published by Sports Illustrated's Lee Jenkins, the Golden State Warriors' celebration found a nice middle ground between "turned up" and "let's just open a nice Chianti and have cheese" after winning their franchise's first NBA Finals since 1975 Tuesday night.
The consummate party-crasher, Jenkins followed the team from the arena to its afterparty at Morton's The Steakhouse at the Tower City Center in Cleveland on Wednesday morning. The postgame festivities began at Quicken Loans Arena, where Stephen Curry posed with the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
Reliably, his daughter Riley was quick to steal his thunder. Kevin Morris posted a video of Curry's photoshoot. It wasn't long before Riley told her father his time was up. (Warning: Caption contains profanity.)
"It's my turn," Riley said, pouting in the wings.
From there, they went to the locker room, where Finals MVP Andre Iguodala decided to make different plans for his post-championship vacation, per ESPN's Jason Sobel:
The team then boarded the bus—a transition that didn't go so smoothly for Curry, Jenkins writes:
"The season of splash ended Wednesday at 2:18 a.m. [ET], on the loading dock at Quicken Loans Arena, 20 feet from the Warriors bus. Steph Curry raised both arms, let out a triumphant roar, and in a fit of euphoria lost control of the Heineken in his right hand. He tried to catch the bottle, but it splattered against the cement, leaving a puddle of green shards and Dutch hops. A few of Curry's teammates, waiting for him outside the bus, saw the final splash. They erupted in applause.
"
The party rolled to Morton's, where everyone but Iguodala—one of the team's two non-partakers—imbibed and danced in a circle.
"They didn't get me," Iguodala told Jenkins, referring to drinking.
Harrison Barnes, the Warriors' other abstainer, didn't hold up so well under the pressure.
"They got me," Barnes said.
The weirdest part of the night Jenkins recorded was a moment involving Riley at Morton's. He mentions a man—ostensibly a fan—holding an unlit cigar to the child's face as she sat at a table with her father.
"Sitting at the end of a long table, [Stephen] dug into a plate of steak, macaroni and mashed potatoes. One man approached and asked Curry to autograph his Polo shirt. "I've got a lot of Polos," the man said. Another tried to slip an unlit cigar into Riley’s mouth. "No," she replied, shaking her head.
"
Yeah, let's not offer the children tobacco at the table, guys. Or, you know, anywhere at all.
According to Jenkins, the party ended around 5 a.m. ET, with Curry being one of the final members of the team to filter out of the restaurant.
All reports indicate a good time was had by all. No word on whether Drake was there offering to babysit.
Dan is on Twitter, really wanting a steak and macaroni right now.
