At long last, Banner 18 will be raised to the rafters.
The Boston Celtics captured their first NBA championship since 2008 on Monday night, defeating the Dallas Mavericks, 106-88, in Game 5 of the NBA Finals — capping off a dominant run for a roster poised to reign atop the NBA for years to come.
Sixteen years to the day since the 2007-08 Celtics secured the franchise’s 17th championship on the parquet floor, the 2023-24 Celtics penned a similar ending on Causeway Street.
The 2023-24 Celtics were cut from a similar cloth as that 2008 club — both featuring rosters anchored by homegrown talent, and further elevated through several savvy offseason maneuvers by a Boston front-office hellbent on putting this franchise back on top.
But unlike that 2008 team — which seized basketball immortality in its first year together — this Celtics core trudged through several heartbreaking missteps and stumbles on basketball’s highest stage before finally reaching the summit.
From an unexpected run cut short by LeBron James in 2018, to a 2022 Finals campaign snapped by Steph Curry, to an unprecedented 0-3 rally against the Heat extinguished in 2023, the path to a title hasn’t always been easy for Boston.
But as the confetti rained down on the parquet floor on Monday night amid a cacophony of cheers and other delirium, it was only fitting that Boston’s record-setting 18th title was sealed via a pair of dominant performances from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
The two pillars of Boston’s latest era of dominance further cemented themselves as franchise legends in Game 5. Tatum led the way for Boston with 31 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists, while Jaylen Brown added 21 points.
Jrue Holiday secured his second ring with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Derrick White added 14 points
Kristaps Porzingis, returning to the court on Monday after missing the last two games with an ankle injury, added five points over 16 minutes. Al Horford finally secured his first title, with the 38-year-old big man contributing nine points.
Boston’s march to a title hit a setback on Friday night, with the Celtics’ hopes of a dominant sweep of the Mavericks snapped off of a 38-point blowout loss in Game 4.
Despite that lopsided result, the Celtics remedied several of the woes that plagued them down at American Airlines Center. Boston sank 45.2% of its shots and routinely extended possessions by way of diving plays and scrappy second-chance baskets in the paint.
Boston separated itself from Dallas in the first half, with a Sam Hauser 3-pointer fueling a 9-0 run that capped the opening quarter — giving Boston a 28-18 lead after 12 minutes of play.
While Tatum did a majority of the heavy lifting in the second quarter, it was yet another buzzer-beating, halfcourt heave from Payton Pritchard that ended the first half, opening a 21-point cushion for Boston.
Even with Boston’s offense stalling at several points in the second half, Dallas was unable to claw back from such a sizable deficit — with Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic combining for 43 points on Monday.
As the final seconds ticked off the clock, cheers of “Let’s Go Celtics” and “We Want Boston” echoed across the Celtics’ arena — a rallying cry of victory that will undoubtedly echo down Boylston Street in just a couple of days.
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