The Boston Celtics are the 2024 NBA Champions.
Boston was the best team in the league throughout the regular season and it cruised through the postseason en route to winning it all. After a back-and-forth battle for most of the first quarter Monday night, the Celtics went on a 9-0 run to close the quarter and took a 28-18 lead into the second — they would go on to win 106-88.
Following Boston’s spurt, Dallas never cut its deficit to less than eight points. Kyrie Irving had an awful performance — 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting — and Luka Doncic struggled for a majority of the game before boosting his stats late. With the game well out of reach, Doncic pushed his point total to 28 to go along with 12 rebounds. However, Doncic had a game-high seven turnovers, as well.
For Boston, it was a comfortable night for everyone in green. Jayson Tatum scored 31 points, dished out 11 assists and grabbed eight rebounds. Jrue Holiday posted a team-best +21 while contributing 15 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Derrick White drilled 4-of-8 shots from beyond the arc. Jaylen Brown struggled from the field (7-of-23) but finished with 21/8/6.
Despite his tough shooting night, Brown did more than enough throughout the series to earn Finals MVP honors.
“I can’t even put into words the emotions,” Brown said. “It’s just I’m blessed and I’m grateful. This was a full team effort. We had a great team. My teammates were great. They allowed me to lead us on both ends of ball, and we just came out and performed on our home floor. It’s just amazing. You know, it could have gone to anybody. It could have gone to Jayson. Jayson, like I can’t talk enough about his selflessness. … I can’t talk enough about his attitude. It’s just how he approached not just this series or the Finals but just the playoffs in general. And we did it together as a team, and that was the most important thing.”
With their triumph, the Celtics broke a tie with the rival Lakers for the most titles in NBA history. For Tatum, Boston’s 18th title means everything.
“It means the world,” Tatum said. “It’s been a long time. And, damn, I’m grateful.”
