Source: Boston Globe / Getty
Last night, they won the 2024 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks and became the league’s most-winning team, with 18 championship banners hanging from the rafters in TD Garden.
The series was nearly a sweep, but Dallas’s blowout win at home last Friday prevented that. Back home, the Celtics used the crowd’s energy to easily beat the Mavericks in five games.
The Celtics led the entire game and never truly let up to let the Mavs have a chance. Key performances of 31 points, eight rebounds, and 11 assists from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s 21 points, eight rebounds, and six assists added to the solid offensive performance by locking down Luka Doncic. Plus, Kyrie Irving couldn’t explode, and despite having 41 minutes of play, he only scored 15 points.
By halftime, the Celtics were up by 21 points, which was solidified by a buzzer-beater heave from Payton Pritchard.
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But being about to limit Doncic’s signature step-back shots ultimately gave Brown an edge, and he took home the Finals MVP award over Tatum. After the game, he credited his teammates for allowing him the wiggle room to be valuable on both ends of the court.
“I can’t even put into words the emotions,”
Brown said. “It’s just I’m blessed and I’m grateful. This was a full team effort. We had a great team. My teammates were great. They allowed me to lead us on both ends of the ball, and we just came out and performed on our home floor. It’s just amazing.”
Early on in the series, Tatum was critiqued for not playing hero ball, but he was steadfast in playing a cohesive team game that allowed other players to contribute as Kristaps Porzingis did.
Plus, the Celtics now have bragging rights over their longtime cross-country rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, who have one fewer championship.
“I mean, this is going to be a night that I will remember for the rest of my life, from the game, the celebration, these moments,”
Tatum said. “Over the last couple years, we had some tough losses at home in the playoffs. We’ve lost the NBA championship at home in front of our fans. We had a chance to beat Miami in Game 6 a few years ago and lost that one.”
See how social media is reacting to the Celtics winning the NBA Finals 106-88 below.
