The Boston Celtics are the 2024 NBA champions. The Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 on Monday night to win their 18th championship in franchise history and their first since 2008. Jayson Tatum was the star of Game 5 for Boston, scoring 31 points and dishing out 11 assists to help them win their first championship. Jaylen Brown added 21 points in the win. Selected as Finals MVP. 18 championships is the most in NBA history Boston surpassed the Los Angeles Lakers, who won their 17th championship in 2020.
Boston was the best team in the NBA all season long. The Celtics won 64 games in the regular season, went 16-3 in the playoffs and capped it off with a 4-1 win over the Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals.
The title came exactly 16 years after the Celtics last won on June 17, 2008. The Tatum-Brown-led Celtics have been Eastern Conference Finals regulars in recent years (reaching six of the last eight Eastern Conference Finals), but this is only the second Finals appearance for the Tatum/Brown team. The Celtics lost to the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals, but are unlikely to lose in 2024.
The championship was the first for forward Al Horford in his 17-season career. The longtime Celtic played in 186 playoff games en route to his first title. Only Karl Malone has played more playoff games without winning a championship.
The title was Jrue Holiday's second in four years after he was acquired by the Celtics in a preseason trade after the Bucks traded him to acquire Damian Lillard. Holiday was all-around great in the Finals, finishing with 15 points, 11 rebounds and four assists in Game 5.
Holiday also played strong defense on Dallas stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, who were limited to 14 first-half points on Monday night. Doncic scored a team-high 28 points in the season finale, and the Slovenian superstar will continue his quest for his first NBA title after leading the fifth-seeded Mavs to their first Finals in 13 years.
Meanwhile, Irving struggled in Boston. The former Celtics player scored 15 points in Game 5, but averaged just 14.3 points in the three Finals games at TD Garden, all of which were losses for Dallas.
Here are four key takeaways from the title-deciding Game 5.
Tatum and Brown finally summit the mountain
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been together since 2017. In those seven seasons, they have never missed the playoffs, appeared in five Eastern Conference Finals and two Finals, and played 107 postseason games together, the most of any duo without winning a title.
At least until Monday night.
After years of playoff heartbreak, countless calls to break up and relentless debate about whether they were good enough to win it, they finally hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy. They were NBA champions, Celtics legends, and they did it together.
Watching guys like Tatum and Brown complete their journey is what makes sports so great.
Brown wins Finals MVP award
When Jaylen Brown was drafted third overall in 2016, Celtics fans partying at TD Garden booed his selection. Nearly eight years later, those same fans went wild in the opposite direction as they watched him hoist the Bill Russell Finals MVP trophy.
Brown has often played second fiddle to Tatum in recent years, but not anymore. He was named Eastern Conference Finals MVP and now Finals MVP, sharing the honor with fellow Celtics icons John Havlicek, Larry Bird and Paul Pierce.
Tatum closed the gap with a stellar performance in Game 5, closing out the series. Brown won the polls 7-4. In the end, his consistency and two-way effort was enough to sway the voters. He averaged 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5 assists in five games, while also playing the primary role of guarding Luka Doncic.
Horford receives his ring
Al Horford was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. In his last 17 seasons, he has been selected to five All-Star Games, one All-NBA Team and one All-Defensive Team and has played in 186 playoff games, second-most among players without a ring.
Finally, he's an NBA champion. Horford came to Boston as a free agent in 2016 and spent three seasons with the team before signing an ill-fated deal with the Philadelphia 76ers. After two years in Philadelphia and Oklahoma City, the Celtics brought Horford back for 2021.
It was one of Brad Stevens' first big decisions after taking over as the team's president of basketball operations and it has proven to be one of his smartest. The ever-consistent Horford has been a key piece in the Celtics' rise and started most of this season's playoff games due to an injury to Kristaps Porzingis.
Joe Mazzulla replaced Horford late in Game 5 and gave him a well-deserved standing ovation.
Mazura makes history
Just before the 2022-23 season, the Celtics named Joe Mazzulla as interim head coach while they investigated Ime Udoka for multiple rules violations. By February of that season, he was officially named head coach and led the team to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Despite calls for him to be fired after the Celtics' surprising loss to the eighth-seeded Miami Heat, Brad Stevens decided to hire Mazzulla, and it turned out to be the right decision, as Mazzulla used his unique style to lead the team to their first 60-win season since 2009 and their first title since 2008.
With the Game 5 victory, the 35-year-old Mazzulla became the youngest head coach to win a title since Bill Russell in 1969.
