How NBA Finals History Can Be Made If Warriors Beat Celtics in Game 6

BOSTON — The Golden State Warriors have a chance to clinch their seventh NBA championship in franchise history, and if they do it at TD Garden on Thursday, they’ll achieve some significant milestones.

The NBA announced commissioner Adam Silver will not be in attendance at Game 6 due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols. This means if the Warriors beat the Boston Celtics in Game 6, deputy commissioner Mark Tatum will present the Larry O’Brien trophy in Silver’s absence. If that is the case, it would mark the first time in the NBA’s 75-year history a person of color would present the championship trophy, per ESPN’s Marc Spears — Tatum is Black and Vietnamese.

More history could potentially be made if the Celtics fall short at home. A Warriors win would mark only the second time in Boston’s franchise history an opposing team won the NBA title in the Celtics’ homecourt, per The Athletic’s David Aldridge. The only team to do it was the Los Angeles Lakers in 1985. Aldridge wrote about how the Lakers pulled off the feat.

The Celtics will hope to not be on the receiving end of history and force a Game 7 to take the series back to Chase Center in San Francisco. Game 6 tips off at 9 p.m. ET at TD Garden on Thursday.