BOSTON (AP) — Jayson Tatum put his hands behind his head and soaked up the spectacle as the TD Garden fans stood around him in support.
As he walked toward the bench, he put his arms around Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla.
The journey is complete.
The Boston Celtics once again stand alone among NBA champions.
Tatum had 31 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds and the Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 on Monday night to win their 18th championship, tying them with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most in franchise history.
Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla celebrates in front of the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy after Boston’s 106-88 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts on June 17, 2024. (Elsa/Getty Images)
Boston’s latest title comes 16 years after hoisting its last Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2008. It marks the 13th championship won this century by one of the city’s Big Four professional sports teams.
“This means the world,” Tatum said onstage after the team received the trophy from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “It’s been a long time coming. I’m so grateful.”
Jaylen Brown finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists and was named NBA Finals MVP.
“This is a joy for me, my brothers and my buddy Jayson Tatum,” Brown said after playing in his 107th career playoff game with Tatum, the most by any pair prior to winning a title.
Jrue Holiday added 15 points and 11 rebounds. Center Kristaps Porzingis, returning from a two-game absence due to a dislocated tendon in his left ankle, also lifted the team’s spirits with five points in 17 minutes.
They helped the Celtics finish the postseason with a 16-3 record and an 80-21 overall record, a .792 winning percentage that ranks second in franchise history behind the 1985-86 championship team that finished with an 82-18 record (.820).
Now in his second season, the 35-year-old Mazzulla is the youngest manager to lead a team to a championship since Bill Russell in 1969.
“You have very few opportunities to achieve greatness in life,” Mazzulla said.
Luka Doncic had 28 points and 12 rebounds for Dallas. Dallas avoided the sweep with a 38-point win in Game 4 but couldn’t extend the series. The Mavericks are 3-0 in Game 5 games this postseason, with Doncic scoring 31 or more points in each game.
Kyrie Irving finished with just 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting, and the Celtics, who joined the Brooklyn Nets in the summer of 2019, have lost 13 of their past 14 meetings against the Celtics.
The NBA team is trailing in postseason series with a 0-3 record and is currently 0-157.
Boston never trailed and capitalized on the energy of the Garden crowd to lead by as many as 26 points.
Dallas led 16-15 early in the quarter, but the Celtics ended the first quarter on a 12-3 run that included eight points from Tatum and Brown.
The Celtics came back to life in the second quarter, helping the Mavericks cut a 15-point deficit to nine. Boston ended the period on a 19-7 run, and Payton Pritchard’s half-court buzzer-beater (his second of the series) put Boston up 67-46 at the half.
Over the final two minutes of the first and second quarters, the Celtics outscored the Mavericks 22-4.
Derrick White (number 9) of the Boston Celtics celebrates after making a three-point shot against the Dallas Mavericks during the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts on June 17, 2024. (Elsa/Getty Images)
The Celtics never looked back.
Russell’s widow, Janine Russell, and daughter Karen Russell gathered at TD Garden to pay tribute to the Celtics’ latest generation of champions.
They watched current Celtics stars Tatum and Brown earn their first championship rings. The trade that sent 2008 champions Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn in 2013 gave Boston the draft picks that ultimately allowed them to select Brown and Tatum with the third overall picks in consecutive drafts in 2016 and 2017.
The All-Stars came into their own this season, leading a Celtics team built around the production and success of 3-point shots and a defense that was rated the best in the league during the regular season.
The two have reached at least the Eastern Conference finals as teammates four times.
They finally reached the finish line in their fifth playoff appearance.
Both players struggled offensively throughout the series, but improved in Game 5, combining for 31 points and 11 assists in the first half alone.
This has enabled all of the traits that have made Boston the most formidable team in the NBA in the playoffs this season: spreading the team out, sharing the ball and wreaking havoc defensively.
And for the Celtics, it caps a hectic season that saw them lose in the finals to the Golden State Warriors in 2022 and then miss a comeback last season, losing at home to the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the conference finals.
