Celtics

 Game 5 sees the Celtics demolish the Mavericks to win a record 18th NBA title.

Boston -- With the help of Finals MVP Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, who combined for 31 points, 8 rebounds, and 11 assists and 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists, the Boston Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 to win the 2024 NBA Finals. This victory marked the 16th anniversary of the team's 17th championship in the same arena.

By doing this, the Celtics surpassed the Los Angeles Lakers, their enduring rivals, for the record of most NBA championships.

"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," said Tatum. In the last several years, we've had some devastating home playoff losses. We are the home team that lost the NBA title in front of our fans. We lost that Game 6 against Miami a few years back, despite having a chance to win.

"So to have a big victory -- the greatest victory that you could have in front of the hometown crowd -- I felt like that was really important to go out there and do all in my power to make sure we won this game tonight."

Boston rebounded with a wire-to-wire victory on Monday after playing its poorest game of the season on Friday night in its first opportunity to wrap up this series. Similar to 2008, when the Celtics destroyed the Lakers in Game 6 at TD Garden to win their most recent championship, big performances from Tatum and Brown helped Boston to end the game early.

The Celtics had a 21-point advantage at the half, thanks to a second half-court heave of the series by Payton Pritchard, which gave them a convincing lead and enthralled the sold-out crowd at TD Garden.

Even before the game started, the fans was ecstatic, but it peaked halfway through the first quarter when Kristaps Porzingis, who had missed Games 3 and 4, entered the game due to a left leg injury he sustained in Game 2. Despite finishing with just five points in just 16 minutes, Porzingis provided Boston with crucial bench time by replacing Al Horford.

While this was going on, Kyrie Irving, who said on Sunday that he had issues playing against his old team at TD Garden, was still having problems in Boston. He shot a combined 13-for-37 in Games 1 and 2 in Boston, including 0-for-8 from 3, before finishing Game 5 with 15 points on 5-for-16 shooting.

In addition to routinely protecting Mavericks standout Luka Doncic, Brown's series averages of 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 5 assists earned him the MVP title.

Brown remarked, "I can't even put into words the emotions." "I'm just thankful and feel blessed. The entire team contributed to this. Our team was excellent. My guys were excellent. We just came out and played on our home floor after they let me lead us on both sides of the ball. It truly is incredible.

"Anyone may have received it, you know. It might have happened, Jayson. I really can't say enough good things about Jayson's selflessness. I could go on forever about his attitude. It's just the way he approached the playoffs in general, not just this series or the Finals. The most crucial aspect was that we completed it as a team."

With the victory, the Celtics turned around their recent postseason disappointments and finished the playoffs 16-3, second only to the Golden State Warriors (16-1) since the NBA went to four best-of-seven rounds in 2003. The Celtics had participated in more postseason games than any other team in NBA history over an eight-season timeframe until to their victory on Monday night.

Six trips to the Eastern Conference finals were part of that streak, which included Boston's seven-game loss to the Heat last year, which made them the fourth club in history to force a Game 7 after trailing 3-0. In the 2022 NBA Finals, Golden State lost to the Warriors despite leading in the fourth quarter of Game 4 and winning two of the first three games. Later, on Boston's renowned parquet court, the team celebrated earning its fourth title under Stephen Curry's leadership.

"We had some tough losses at home in the playoffs over the last couple of years," Jayson Tatum stated. "I felt like that was really important to go out there and make sure we won this game tonight," Tatum continued.

For many of Boston's best players, the title was a box checked. The 107 games that Tatum and Brown played together before winning their first NBA championship are the most for a duo.

"It means the world," Tatum declared while performing. It has been a while. And I'm so thankful, darn it."

When Tatum won his first title, he had the fifth-highest total of postseason points in his career, behind only the late Jerry West, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, and Kevin Durant.

Horford, on the other hand, participated in the most playoff games in NBA history—186—before winning his first championship.

"The first thing you have to do when you come here is you have to embrace that pressure," Horford stated. And I didn't mind at all about my situation. Since I knew what it meant to play here, I didn't mind if we were receiving criticism or not finishing the task.

"Over the past few years, our group has faced numerous challenges. Heartbreaking, Game 7 vs Miami last year. Golden State the previous year. It has been intensifying. However, our crew has shown resilience, and we have carried on with our task. Both Jayson and Jaylen have my undying admiration. Those two guys are still making progress. All year long, they face criticism from others, high expectations, and constant pressure.

"They succeeded. And they carried it out at an early age. They were our group's leader. I'm simply so proud of those guys for putting everything else aside and concentrating on the victory."

The trip that started at Barclays Center 11 years ago this month, when the Brooklyn Nets pulled off a blockbuster trade with Boston to acquire Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett for a plethora of lottery picks, two of which would go on to become Brown and Tatum in 2016 and 2017, came to a close on Monday.

Brad Stevens was hired by Boston shortly after the 2013 draft, having previously served as head coach at Butler University. He held this position for the next eight seasons before succeeding his employer, Danny Ainge, as president of basketball operations in 2021.

Boston had just finished a.500 season and had fallen to the Nets in five games during the opening round of the playoffs. Since then, Stevens has carefully assembled a team around Brown and Tatum through trades; he brought Horford back that summer and Derrick White at the following trade deadline, among other moves, and this helped propel Boston to the 2022 Finals. Stevens reorganized the team after the team lost in the conference finals the previous spring. He sold Marcus Smart, the former Defensive Player of the Year and a fan favorite, to make room for Porzingis, and he then pounced to get Jrue Holiday from the Milwaukee Bucks after they traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers.

Holiday, who won a championship with Milwaukee in 2021, turned in a number of impressive performances this playoffs. In Game 2 of the Finals, for example, he scored 26 points on 11 of 14 shots as the club as a whole shot frigid from three-point range. All but six of Boston's postseason games were missed due to injuries, but Porzingis made up for it by scoring 20 points off the bench in Game 1 of the Finals, which gave the Celtics a big lead over the Mavericks. On Monday night, he returned to provide an emotional lift for the team.

Just before training camp, Ime Udoka was suspended and then fired for breaking team rules. Stevens then took the risky move of elevating Joe Mazzulla from the bench to head coach of the squad. Mazzulla, 35, became the youngest coach to win an NBA title since Russell did so for the same team 55 years ago after posting a 121-43 regular season record over the previous two years.

The Mavericks responded with a 38-point victory in Dallas on Friday, the third-largest blowout in NBA Finals history and the biggest defeat for the Celtics in any game since the 2017 conference finals. The Mavericks had largely controlled the first three games of this series.

However, in Game 5, Boston came back with one of its most comprehensive performances of the year, and as a result, they raised the bar for NBA victory.

"This cannot be genuine. It hasn't really hit and settled in, in my opinion," stated White. "I'm simply grateful to be a part of this amazing group of guys and coaching staff. Yes, it's quite unbelievable. I'm simply trying to savor the now and avoid getting too worked up."