Watch Game 6 of the NBA Finals in the early hours of Friday morning (2am) live on Sky Sports Arena
Thursday 13 June 2019 09:34, UK
It's the end of an era as the NBA's most dominant current franchise prepares to pack its bags and say goodbye to Oracle Arena, the court they've called home for nearly half a century.
The Golden State Warriors will move from their current arena in Oakland to the $1bn Chase Center in San Francisco at the end of the current season and still harbour hopes of saying goodbye to their historic home with a third successive NBA title.
Oracle Arena is the oldest in the league and is famed for having one of the loudest groups of supporters in the NBA, who can will the Warriors on to victories in games they have no right to claim.
"Oracle is home," said Stephen Curry, simply. "It's where I find the most joy playing basketball. I've experienced a lot in Oracle and really grew up as a basketball player playing there.
"It will always be my first home in the NBA."
It's hard to tangibly quantify the effect the Warriors' home floor has for them and after 47 years this is the last tour around the hardwood in the famous old Oakland Arena. It's palpable that everyone involved with the franchise feels emotional about the place.
Head coach Steve Kerr said: "The five-year run that I will have had as coach will always be tied directly to Oracle - the drive into the building every night, seeing all the ushers and all the employees in the building helping us out, seeing our fans, familiar faces along the sidelines and in the crowd."
Countless memories have been created over the decades in Oracle Arena and the Warriors' five-year run of consecutive Finals appearances is a fitting way to bookend the franchise's time in Oakland.
Before the move back to San Francisco - the Warriors were known as the San Francisco Warriors from 1962 until 1971 following the franchise's move from Philadelphia - there is business to attend to with the potential to win a third NBA title in a row up for grabs.
Andre Iguodala wants to bow out on the famous old floor by seeing the Warriors become one of just a handful of teams to complete the three-peat.
"That's something we've talked about during the season, you know, we've had a great supporting system from our fans - one of the best fanbases.
"The whole Bay Area - they've really been with this team through good and bad so it would be sweet to end it well for them."
Game 6 takes place in Oakland in the early hours of Friday morning (2am) live on Sky Sports Arena.
