Banner Years: 2024, A Superteam After the Superteam Era

Nevertheless, the picks turned out to be valuable and the Celtics only struggled for a few years before topping the East once again in 2016-17 under new head coach Brad Stevens. Isaiah Thomas led a valiant charge through the first two rounds, highlighted by a memorable a 53-point explosion in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Washington Wizards the day after the death of his sister. However, Thomas’ hip gave out two games into the ECF, and Boston’s season once again came to an end at the hands of Lebron.

That summer, Ainge traded Thomas for Kyrie Irving, signed Gordon Hayward in free agency, and drafted Jayson Tatum with one of the picks conveyed in the Pierce/KG deal with Brooklyn. Despite the discomfort of parting with Thomas, the Celtics were now equipped with a pair of proven stars in Irving and Hayward, a star role player in Al Horford, impressive depth in Marcus Morris and Terry Rozier, and an exciting young core of Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart. Going into the season, they had the third-best odds to win it all, only behind the Golden State Warriors — who now had Kevin Durant — and LeBron’s Cavaliers. Those odds came crashing down only 5 minutes into the regular season, when Hayward broke his ankle coming down from an alley-oop attempt.

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However, the team still finished with 55 wins, good enough for second place in the East, and made it to the 2018 ECF without Kyrie, who missed the playoffs due to season-ending surgery. The youngsters even led the team to a 3-2 lead over the Cavs, sparking fanciful hopes that a rookie JT and sophomore JB could topple LeBron’s longstanding reign and bring about a new era in the East. Nope. LeBron put up a monstrous 46-point performance in Game 6 to tie the series, then brought Cleveland back from a halftime deficit in Game 7 to win the series.

After the Kyrie era ended with a beyond-disappointing 1-4 series loss at the hands of Giannis and the Milwaukee Bucks in 2019, the Celtics retooled by getting Kemba Walker via sign-and-trade with the Charlotte Hornets. Boston wasn’t a title favorite heading into the 2019-20 season, but the team — now firmly led by the Jays, who had both blossomed into 20+ points per game scorers — finished third in the Eastern Conference and entered the 2020 Bubble with hopes of contention. After embarrassing the Sixers with a first-round sweep, then topping the Toronto Raptors in a grueling 7-game series, they were once again back in the ECF. While the young Jays put up a good fight, they ended up losing the series 2-4 to Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat.

The Celtics struggled their way to a 36-36 record during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, in which the team battled with injuries and Kemba’s deteriorating play before losing Brown to an injury ahead of the 2021 playoffs. Tatum exploded for 50 points to almost singlehandedly won Game 3 in the first round against the Nets, who now had Kyrie, Durant and James Harden, but that was Boston’s only win of the postseason.

Following the C’s first-round exit, Danny Ainge stepped down as the team’s President of Basketball Operations after 18 years at the helm, Stevens was promoted to take his place, and Ime Udoka was named Boston’s new head coach. Expectations were once again low for the squad heading into the 2021-22 season and, at first, they appeared to be accurate. The Celtics got off to a less-than-stellar start that resulted in a 18-21 record in early January and looked clunky under Udoka’s new leadership. However, Boston righted the ship and went 33-10 over the rest of the season thanks to a suffocating defense quarterbacked by Smart — who won DPOY for his efforts — on the perimeter and anchored by a double-big lineup of Robert Williams III and Al Horford in the paint.

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The Celtics entered the 2022 playoffs as one of the hottest, if not the hottest, teams in the league, and immediately swept the Kyrie-Durant Nets in the first round. They then beat the Bucks in a 7-game series thanks to Tatum’s 46-point performance in Game 6 and a Grant Williams game for the ages in Game 7. Boston found itself in its second ECF against the Miami Heat in three years and, this time, they battled their way to a 4-3 series victory to secure their first Finals berth in 12 years. The run was magical, with the team seemingly conquering all of its demons in its battle through the East, and that magic carried into the Finals, as the Celtics won two of its first three games against Golden State. Curry ultimately ended that magic by manhandling Boston with 43 points in a devastating Game 4 that swung the momentum of the series. The veteran Warriors then won the next two games to wrap up the series in six.

Despite the Finals loss and the Udoka scandal in the offseason, which resulted in Stevens naming Joe Mazzulla as interim head coach less than a month before the 2022-23 season began, the Celtics started the campaign with the best title odds in the league (+500). They certainly looked the part throughout the regular season, too. The C’s finished with a 57-25 record, good for second-best in the whole league and six wins better than the year before. Both Jays put up their best seasons yet, as Tatum posted 30.1 points per game and finished fourth in MVP voting while Brown averaged 26.6 points per game and was voted onto the All-NBA Second Team. At the same time, Derrick White’s defensive chops had earned him a place on the NBA’s All-Defensive Second Team, and offseason addition Malcolm Brogdon won the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award. Even the defense remained top-3 in the league without big minutes from Williams, who struggled with injuries and only played 35 games that season.

However, the Celtics didn’t look as impressive during the playoffs. The team lost two games to the seventh-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the first round and had a hard time guarding Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. In the second round against the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston lost Game 1 even though Joel Embiid did not play and allowed Philly to take a 3-2 series lead before they came back to win the series in seven games. The slippage was concerning, but it became embarrassing in the ECF against Miami, when the Heat took a dominant 3-0 series lead. JB couldn’t shoot, Williams couldn’t stay on the floor, and Brogdon was all but useless after sustaining an injury to his shooting arm in Game 1.

Nevertheless, Boston rattled off three straight wins, highlighted by a Derrick White buzzer beater in Game 6, to bring the series to a Game 7. The run sparked memories of the Red Sox’s historic 0-3 comeback against the Yankees on their way to a World Series win in 2004 and led fans to believe that maybe, just maybe, the Celtics could complete the first 0-3 comeback in NBA history. Those hopes were dashed in the opening possession of Game 7, when Tatum sprained his left ankle. Brown tried to lead the offense in his stead, but finished with 8 turnovers and dreadful shooting splits (34.8% from the field and 11.1% from three-point range) as the Celtics got blown out, 103-84.

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After years of deep playoff runs ending in disappointment, Stevens decided to shake things up with a couple big moves in the 2023 offseason.

The first move was to trade Marcus Smart for Kristaps Porzingis and a pair of first-round draft picks in a deal with the Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies. Smart was the longest-tenured member of the Celtics at the time of the trade and considered by many to be the heart of the team, but his offensive contributions were inconsistent and his defense was beginning to regress. On the other hand, Porzingis had always struggled to stay healthy, but he had just put up his best season yet over 65 games — tied for the second-most games he’d ever played in a single campaign — for the Wizards the year before. The 7’2″ Latvian offered the unicorn combo of rim protection and outside shooting, but also something Boston had lacked in the Jays era: a potent inside scoring threat. Porzingis averaged 23.2 points per game in 2022-23 and had become elite at capitalizing on mismatches. If the defense messed up by switching an undersized player onto Porzingis, he could drag them into the post, get the ball and put up an almost unstoppable face-up jumper or turnaround over the shorter defender.

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The next move was to trade Williams, Brogdon, and two first-round picks to the Portland Trail Blazers for Jrue Holiday, whom they had just acquired in the Damian Lillard trade. Jrue provided a lot of what Smart previously did for the Celtics — elite switchable defense, solid ballhandling and playmaking — but without some of the negatives that made Smart expendable. He could shoot at a solid clip, didn’t turn the ball over as much, didn’t require a large role to produce, and provided an unshakeable, calming presence that could only come from a championship-winning vet. And even though it looked like Boston gave up a lot of value for him, Williams’ injury problems were only getting worse (he played in only 26 games over the next two seasons) and Brogdon would also struggle to stay on the court following his injury against the Heat. He played only 63 games over the next two seasons, then retired early following the 2024-25 season at the age of 32.

Porzingis and Holiday would immediately slot into the starting lineup alongside White, Brown, and Tatum. If Porzingis wasn’t available, the ever-reliable Horford could start in his place with little drop off. While he didn’t provide the same level of offensive versatility as Porzingis, he remained switchable at the ripe age of 37 and helped maintain the team’s defensive pressure in lieu of the Latvian, all while hitting open shots with elite efficiency (he shot 44.6% from three-point range the season before). With everyone available, the top-6 had it all: every position had the ability to shoot, create scoring opportunities for themselves or others, and defend at a high level.

The starters also had elite depth to back them, with Payton Pritchard, a microwave scorer and deep shot master, Sam Hauser, a three-point shooting machine, and Luke Kornet, who provided solid fundamentals whenever Porzingis or Horford needed a rest. Even before the team played a single game, fans knew this squad was going to be impressive.

It didn’t take long for the Celtics to prove the fans right.

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The team started the season off with a bang in an intense 108-104 battle against the New York Knicks, in which Boston got to show off one of its shiny new toys. While Tatum put up an impressive 34 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 stocks, it was Porzingis who stole the show against his former team. Porzingis scored 30 points on 53.3% shooting from the field, 55.6% from three-point range and 90% from the free throw line, and racked up 8 rebounds and 4 blocks, all while sporting a big, goofy smile. The performance immediately showed what Stevens saw in him, and how he could elevate the team to another level.

Only three games later, the Celtics rocked the Indiana Pacers to the tune of 155-104, a tremendous 51-point winning margin. Tatum once again led the way with 30 points, but the team was already firing on all cylinders: nobody in the starting five scored less than 13 points or played for more than 27 minutes. Three bench players finished with double-digit points — the same number of double-digit scorers the Pacers ended the game with.

The Knicks game was one of only a small handful of close contests throughout the season, as the Celtics blew most opponents out of the water and won by an average margin of 11.3 points per game. Using Mazzulla’s “Killer Whale Offense,” Boston would manipulate the opponents’ defense to get a weak or mismatched defender in a vulnerable position, then strike that weak point in isolation. If any off-ball defenders left their assignments to help, they would be leaving strong shooters open to bomb away. With five legitimate offensive weapons on the court at any time, there was no easy way to guard this loaded Celtics squad. You could try to pick your poison, but it was still a poison, nonetheless.

Steve Kerr and the Warriors discovered that while getting blown out during the teams’ second matchup of the season. Golden State went into the game with a strategy: let Boston’s weakest perimeter shooter, Jaylen Brown, take shots in an effort to minimize the number of shots available for the Celtics’ stronger shooters. They did this by playing off of Brown and allowing him to take open shots, almost at will. Brown capitalized on the lax defense and scored 19 points in just the first quarter, beginning a 58-13 run that secured a 35-point Boston lead by the half. Boston ended up winning the game 140-88, which was the Celtics’ third-largest winning margin ever and the Warriors’ fourth-worst loss in franchise history. And that was all without Porzingis, who missed the game with a quad injury.

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While the team did have some slipups — worst of all was a 135-102 drubbing at the hands of Giannis and the Bucks in January — it always rebounded strong on the back of the league’s top-rated offense and third-best defense. For instance, the Celtics followed up that embarrassing loss to the Bucks with a 145-113 blowout of the Houston Rockets, in which the Jays combined for 59 points and Pritchard scored 19 points off the bench.

Boston finished the season with a 64-18 record, the historic franchise’s fourth-best regular season record of all time, and the best record in the Eastern Conference by a whopping 14 games. Even the best Western Conference teams ended up seven games back. There was no doubt about it: the Celtics were the best team in the league, and it wasn’t particularly close. The team racked up a +11.6 net rating, which tied the superteam 2016-17 Warriors for the third-best net rating in NBA history, only behind the Bulls’ 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons with the GOAT at the helm. While the team did not have a traditional superteam led by a Big 3 of superstars, each of its parts worked so harmoniously together that it produced like one.

The Celtics’ regular season domination continued into the playoffs, as it lost only two games on its way to the Finals.

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In the first round, Boston faced a familiar foe: the Miami Heat. But this time, there was no Lebron James or Jimmy Butler to play spoiler. The Celtics won the first game by 20 points, with every starter but Holiday scoring at least 17 points. Surprisingly, Boston let Game 2 slip and lost by 10 points thanks to the Heat’s 23 three-point makes, a playoff franchise record, on 53.5% shooting from deep. The loss sparked painful memories for C’s fans who still harbored fears that the team lacked the mettle to go all the way. Nevertheless, Boston quelled those fears by winning the next three games by a combined margin of 68 points.

Unfortunately, one of the Celtics’ main storylines of the 2024 playoffs was the health of Kristaps Porzingis. The Latvian sustained a calf injury in Game 4 of the Heat series and was ruled out for Game 5. His uncertain status moving forward led people to question whether or not Boston could win without its new interior weapon, and left an otherwise dominant team with one 7’2″ question mark.

Well, in the second round against the Cavaliers, that didn’t matter. The script from the first round almost repeated itself, even in lieu of Porzingis. The Celtics dominated game 1, winning by a 25-point margin, thanks to a combined 57 points between Brown and White. Boston let another Game 2 slip and lost by 24 points, as it struggled to contain the combination of Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley. They rebounded with a 13-point win in Game 3, as Tatum and Brown combined for 61 points and Mitchell left the game with a strained left calf near the end of the game. Mitchell missed the next two games of the series due to the injury, and the Celtics capitalized by winning both and ending the series in five games.

Interestingly enough, the tightest series on Boston’s run to the Finals was its only sweep of the postseason. Still without Porzingis, three of the Celtics’ four ECF wins against the Pacers came down to the wire and were decided by 5 points or less. Games 1 and 3, especially, were nail-biters. Game 4 was close, too, but by then the Celtics had a 3-0 series lead and the pressure on Boston was all but gone.

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Despite Jrue Holiday’s season-best 28-point, 7-rebound, 8-assist and 3-steal performance in Game 1, the Pacers had a three-point lead over the C’s in the final 30 seconds of the fourth quarter. It looked like Indiana might steal a big one against the mighty Celtics, but Brown hit a game-tying three-pointer over Pascal Siakam with 5.7 seconds remaining. His heroic shot earned one of Mike Breen’s rare double bang calls and sent the game to overtime, where Tatum sealed the deal with 10 points, bringing his total to 36.

Game 2 wasn’t so stressful, as the Celtics won by 16 points, but Game 3 was another matter entirely. The Pacers were without Tyrese Haliburton, who strained a hamstring in Game 2, but the rest of the team stepped up without him. Andrew Nembhard had a career 32-point and 9-assist game, while Myles Turner, Pascal Siakam and T.J. McConnell all put up at least 22 points. They scored 69 points in the first half and, halfway through the third quarter, the Pacers had amassed a commanding 18-point lead. The Jays put up 15 combined points in the third to whittle Indiana’s lead down to 9 by the start of the fourth, but the Pacers maintained an 8-point advantage over Boston with only three minutes to go. But it wasn’t over yet. After Jayson Tatum made a ridiculous behind-the-back pass to Al Horford for an open corner 3, which brought the game to 109-111, it became the Jrue Holiday show. Holiday, fresh of Game 2 showcase, completed a three-point play by driving hard into Siakam for a layup. After hitting the foul shot to take a one-point lead with 38.9 seconds to go, Holiday finished the comeback by stealing the ball from a red-hot Nembhard with 4 seconds to go and knocking down a pair of free throws to put the Celtics up 114-111 with 1.7 second left. The Pacers missed their final three-point attempt, and Boston had secured an improbable win to take a 3-0 series lead.

Despite 29 points from Brown and a 26-point, 13-rebound and 8-assist performance from Tatum, Game 4 also came down to the wire. Thanks to another explosive performance from Nembhard, the Pacers held a four-point lead (102-98) over the Celtics with about three-and-a-half minutes remaining, but Boston tightened the screws and shut down Indiana’s offense over the final stretch. The Jays made a couple buckets to tie the game with less than three minutes to go, and White hit a three-pointer from the corner with 43.9 seconds left to secure the lead and Boston’s ticket to the NBA Finals.

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Brown, who averaged 29.8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2.8 stocks per game and had a number of heroic moments over the course of the series, was named ECF MVP. Nevertheless, there was a debate over who should win the award, as the C’s had two other legitimate contenders. Holiday averaged 18.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.8 stocks per game and served as an instrumental piece for Boston, especially in clutch time. Meanwhile, Tatum had the best statistical output of all three, racking up 30.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 1.8 stocks per game.

Heading into the Finals, the Celtics were the betting favorites to win, but the Luka Doncic-led Dallas Mavericks had garnered some intense hype on their run through the Western Conference. Some called the combination of Doncic and former Celtic Kyrie Irving the best offensive backcourt in the history of the league, and thought they could win it all. Heck, 9 out of 18 ESPN panelists picked the Mavs to beat the C’s, including Tim Legler.

While Boston had sometimes struggled in years past with execution in the biggest moments, Doncic had made a name for himself in the clutch — including his famous step-back three-pointer over Rudy Gobert to beat the Timberwolves in the WCF — and was putting up ungodly averages of 28.8 points, 9.6 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game. Meanwhile, Mavs GM Nico Harrison had built a seemingly ideal surrounding cast for the young superstar. Kyrie Irving served as the perfect second-fiddle and secondary offensive creator behind Luka; the combination of Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II covered for his lacking defense by swallowing up shots in the paint and served as strong lob threats on offense; P.J. Washington and Derrick Jones Jr. both provided athletic defense on the perimeter while knocking down spot-up three-pointers, especially from the corners, at an efficient clip over the course of the playoffs. They had won 21 of their last 30 games, a run that eerily mirrored the Celtics’ magical 2021-22 run. There was a reason for the hype.

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Game 1

However, the tune quickly changed after Game 1 of the Finals, otherwise known as the Porzingis Game.

Porzingis returned from the injury he sustained against Miami with a gusto, and came off the bench to torch his former team to the tune of 11 points on 4/5 shooting from the field and 1/2 shooting from three-point range, as well as 3 rebounds and 2 blocks, in just the first quarter. He immediately stole the show upon entering the game and looked unstoppable, demonstrating that the Celtics — who were 12-2 at that point in the playoffs — had another level they could reach. After carving up Dallas for 7 more points in the second quarter, on 3/4 shooting, he led both teams in scoring and had helped Boston take a 63-42 lead by the half.

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When Dallas cut the lead to 8 points in the third quarter, Boston silenced their momentum with a 14-0 run of their own and finished the game with a 107-89 win. The Celtics had an answer to just about everything the Mavs liked to do. Boston deflated Dallas’ lob-happy offense by neutralizing the benefits of the Mavs’ 1-5 pick and rolls by having Tatum guard Gafford or Lively and switch on screens. The C’s could switch every screen without exposing a singularly weak defender for Doncic to chew up. They sacrificed coverage on above-the-break threes to ensure the corners, where the Mavs’ role players shot best, were shut down. On offense, Boston targeted Doncic, both exploiting his weakness as a defender and wearing him down by forcing him to play active defense. Mazzulla had crafted an impressive strategy, and the Celtics were playing it to a tee.

Jaylen Brown had also carried over his momentum from his ECF MVP performance, and looked hungry for the championship. Despite Porzingis’ first-half explosion, Brown led the team in scoring with 22 points on 7/12 shooting. But that wasn’t his most valuable contribution. He also took on the role of guarding Doncic from the jump and did an impressive job forcing the offensive maestro to scrape and claw for every bit of leeway, even picking him up full court to further make his life hell. Brown was taking Luka’s cookies less than 4 minutes into the first quarter, for crying out loud! He finished the game with 3 steals and 3 blocks.

Game 2

Sadly, the Porzingis hype train died down in Game 2. He sustained a rare leg injury in the fourth quarter that would require surgery to repair, and he was noticeably hobbled before leaving the game with 12 points, 4 rebounds, an assist and 2 blocks. The Celtics’ not-so-secret weapon was gone, and it wasn’t clear when, or if, he’d be coming back.

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Regardless, the rest of the team looked determined to grind out a series win. Jrue Holiday led the way with 26 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 stocks. The Jays both struggled with their shots, but contributed in other ways. Tatum racked up 9 rebounds and 12 assists. Brown finished with 7 assists and 3 steals as he kept up his defensive pressure on Doncic.

The Celtics two play of the game contenders came from none of them.

Payton Pritchard, who saw limited play in the Finals, stepped in to do what he does best near the end of the third quarter. Pritchard got the ball for a final possession of the period, dribbled it about six feet past the halfcourt line, then buried a buzzer-beating three-pointer to put the Celtics up 83-74.

The other play of the game contender was made by Derrick White, who ran the full length of the court for a chase-down block on a streaking P.J. Washington dunk attempt to maintain the Celtics’ five-point lead, 103-98, with less than a minute to go in the fourth.

The Mavs — other than Kyrie, who stunk early in the series — looked a little better in game 2, as Doncic finished with an efficient 32-point triple double and every started finished with double-digit points. Regardless, they shot a putrid 23.1% from three-point range and failed to answer Boston’s gameplan. The Celtics win Game 2, 105-98.

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Game 3

While Kyrie finally woke up against the Celtics in Game 3, it still wasn’t enough to secure a win — although it was a close call.

Kyrie and Luka both started hot, combining to score 22 points over the first quarter as Boston continued to guard both 1-on-1 in an attempt to limit Dallas’ role players from getting open shots. That scoring earned them an early 13-point lead in the opening period. Unfortunately for them, Tatum also shook off his shooting struggles from the first two games and scored 13 points on 4/7 shooting. By the end of the first, the Mavs’ lead had been whittled down to 1 point.

Dallas maintained that lead heading into the half, but the Celtics took over in the third quarter. Brown exploded for 15 points in the period, while Tatum, White, and Holiday each chipped in at least 5 points. Even Xavier Tillman Sr. contributed off the bench by knocking down a corner 3. They rode that wave into the early fourth quarter and took a 91-70 lead as a result of a 20-5 run.

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That’s when things got sketchy. Dallas went on a 22-2 run of their own and brought the deficit down to 3 points before Doncic fouled out. Kyrie hit a jumper to narrow the lead to 1 point, but that was the closest it got. Without Doncic, the Mavericks’ offense sputtered and only scored 6 points over the last 2:32. Over that stretch, Brown, Tatum, and White combined to score the Celtics’ last 13 points of the game.

While Dallas’ duo of Kyrie and Luka finished the game with a combined 62 points, the Jays combined for 61 points of their own, and the Celtics’ surrounding cast — highlighted by White’s 16 points — outscored the Mavs’, 45-37.

Boston wins 106-99 and secures an untouchable 3-0 series lead on their way to their first title in 16 years.

Game 4

We’re not going to talk much about Game 4.

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With a 3-0 series lead, the Celtics clearly took their foot off the gas and got their asses kicked from the jump. Maybe they wanted to return to Boston to finish the series, maybe they just sucked, but it wasn’t pretty.

What it looked like was that Dallas had finally figured out the Celtics. The Mavs got their lob game going again, stifled Boston’s offense, and broke out for the most lopsided win of the series, 122-84. Even if it was only one game, it was such a spanking that the talking heads started talking about Dallas’ chances of completing a potential 3-0 series comeback.

Game 5

On the Celtics’ side of things, the players remained cool, calm and collected in the face of media, but news that the still-injured Porzingis would return to play in Game 5 may have hinted at some level of scrambling in Boston.

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However, no desperation was detected after the game had actually started. Boston’s starting five — with Horford in for Porzingis — scored 24 points on a balanced attack in the opening quarter, while Dallas’ could only muster 7. By the end of the first, the Celtics had taken a 10-point lead, 28-18.

With the Mavericks on the ropes, Boston pushed even harder in the second quarter. The Jays scored a combined 21 points in the period, but every Celtic who participated in the quarter scored at least once. By the time Pritchard made the play of the game — a buzzer-beating halfcourt shot to put the C’s up 67-46 at the half — the competition was all but over.

Despite 29 combined second-half points from Kyrie and Luka, the Celtics cruised to an easy 106-88 win with the help of 15 second-half points from Tatum, who finished with 31.

They had done it. After spending so long trying and failing, only to try harder and fail harder, the Celtics had finally secured Banner 18. They had done it without breaking up the Jays, who talking heads argued could never win together, or getting rid of Mazzulla, who people called for Stevens to fire following the 2023 ECF. Al Horford, a stalwart professional who had helped the Celtics make it so far so many times, had finally won his first ring in his 17th season in the NBA. Brown won Finals MVP for his two-way efforts, only a year after his left hand had been meme’d to death. After 16 years of struggle and disappointment, the Celtics had finally reached the summit of NBA basketball once more.