There was something satisfying and familiar about the way the Celtics won their first championship on Monday night: A team assembled the old-fashioned way, through the draft, then learning from its mistakes in a nearly linear upward climb.
They were Michael Jordan before he finally beat the Detroit Bad Boys. Or LeBron James hoisting the NBA Finals MVP award after a disappointing playoff run.
These Celtics, the two Blue Jays, Tatum and Brown, always seemed capable of the same kind of dominance they displayed in the 2024 championship, culminating in a 106-88 Game 5 victory over the Mavericks.
But first they had to prove it. And after finally overcoming their playoff nightmare on Monday, when Tatum shed the choker label by pouring in 31 points in a close game, we can’t help but wonder: Is this the start of a dynasty? The same question was asked of the Nuggets last year, when they were eliminated from the championships in the second round because, in theory, it’s much easier to win back-to-back championships. With six champions in the past six years, the NBA is deeper than it’s ever been and operates under a collective bargaining agreement that encourages equality.
But Boston’s staying power is easy to imagine, given that Tatum and Brown are still in their mid-20s. There was no team in the East that could match them this year. The Knicks are arguably their toughest rival in the conference, and even the most optimistic NYK fan wouldn’t look at the 2024 Finals and reasonably assume, “If our team is healthy, we can beat Boston.” No, the Knicks still need a dramatic move. So maybe Giannis Antetokounmpo or someone like that will put a damper on the momentum.
Meanwhile, the championship was being contested in Boston, where Knicks fans knew Kristaps Porzingis and Jeff Van Gundy won their first title on Monday.
Porzingis, who was injured for most of Boston’s 16-3 playoff run, returned in Game 5 off the bench and scored five points in 16 minutes.
“Why [miss this game]”Home court. We’re the champions now. Let’s go,” Porzingis said.
Tatum and Brown both have the durability and attitude to be at the top of the organization. Neither has produced MVP-caliber numbers. Perhaps Boston’s status as the greatest team of all time is fading. It’s hard to say who is the better player, as was demonstrated by the NBA Finals MVP announcement, which could have gone either way (Brown was named MVP).
The pair completely dominated Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, the latter of whom was Boston’s biggest nemesis every time he touched the TD Garden parquet in the Finals. The point guard finished with just 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting on Monday, the worst performance of Kyrie’s run of poor performances.
Lucky Leprechaun got his revenge.
“Basketball is a game of centimeters, sometimes inches,” Irving said, “so sometimes it feels good when the ball leaves your hand, sometimes it doesn’t.”
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd may have been able to prevent his team’s decline by chance about 11 years ago. Kidd had just become head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, who agreed to a trade for Kevin Garnett, a cornerstone of the Celtics’ previous championship run, and Paul Pierce on draft night in 2013. Garnett reportedly was hesitant to leave Boston, armed with his no-trade clause.
He needed pep talk from Pierce and Kidd to join Brooklyn, and if the trade had been just for Pierce, the Nets would have only given up one draft pick and a reserve player.
But the addition of Garnett, 37 and at the end of his rope, was a complicated deal that combined salary and the acquisition of a future Hall of Famer, leading the Nets to give up multiple draft picks in exchange for Brown in 2017 and Tatum in 2018.
I wish Kid had never made that phone call.
But he did, and now the Celtics are raising a new banner with a record 18th championship and an even bigger vision for the future.
“They’ve come a long way, been to a lot of Eastern Conference finals, had a lot of disappointments,” former NBA executive Bob Myers, who helped build the Golden State dynasty, told ESPN. “But that’s what it takes to win a championship. It’s poetic.”
