Reaching the pinnacle took a little longer than expected, but Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have finally made it. Today, tomorrow, forever, they are NBA Champions!
“It’s been a long time coming, but damn it was worth it,” Tatum exclaimed to ABC’s Lisa Salters after a blizzard of green and white confetti buried the court. “We deserved this. We earned this.”
Moments earlier, the Celtics star struggled to find the words to express his feelings.
“We did it! Oh my God. WE DID IT!” he shouted.
The Jays powered the Celtics to a 106-88 triumph over the Dallas Mavericks Monday night to win the NBA Finals 4-1 and ensure the raising of Boston’s 18th NBA Championship banner to the TD Garden rafters next fall. The Celtics broke their 17-17 championship tie with the Lakers.
After years of losing in the Eastern Conference finals and in 2022 dropping Game 7 of the NBA Finals to Golden State, the Celtics finally won it all. And they won exactly 16 years after their 17th title in 2008.
“It was a full team effort,” Brown, the Finals MVP, said. “I’m sharing this with a my brother and my partner in crime, Jayson Tatum! He’s been with me all the way.”
Do these 2024 Boston Celtics merit inclusion with the best NBA champions of all time? The 1990s Chicago Bulls of Michael Jordan? The Showtime Lakers of the 1980s? The Celtics dynasty from 1957 to 1969? The Warriors of 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022?
Some, many perhaps, argue yes. The Boston Globe produced an exhaustive study that supports their case. The Celtics won the league-high 64 games during the regular season and 16 of 19 playoff games. They disposed of injury-riddled Miami and Cleveland in the first two rounds of the playoffs — as they should have — and then swept Indiana in the Eastern Conference Finals.
They won the first three games of the NBA Finals against the Mavericks, got blown out in the fourth but came back and clinched the title in Boston on Monday night.
They have legitimate All-Stars in Tatum and Brown, invaluable contributors in Jrue Holiday and Derrick White, a veteran leader in Al Horford, and a talented, if fragile, big man in Kristaps Porzingis.
Others say not so fast. The Celtics often squandered big leads, relied too much on three-point shots and lucked out when Miami and Cleveland showed up short-handed. I’ll side with the latter group. I like the 1986 champs who lost only one home game in the old Boston Garden all season, starred the original Big Three of Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, and had former MVP Bill Walton coming off the bench.
Where do you stand? If you don’t remember all 18 championship seasons, this list should help. You will see the championship year, record, finish, playoff series results and a note or two.
So, replay 18 Celtics championship seasons. Have fun!
1956-57 — 44-28; 1st Eastern Division; sweep Syracuse Nationals 3-0; defeat St. Louis Hawks, 4-3. Lose Game 1 in double overtime and win Game 7 in double overtime. Hawks Alex Hannum throws a court-length inbounds pass off the opposite backboard in Game 7. Bob Pettit grabs the rebound and misses a 15-footer. Bob Cousy is the NBA MVP, Tom Heinsohn the Rookie of the Year. Bill Russell joins the team in December after winning a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Australia. He grabs 32 rebounds in Game 7 against the Hawks and averages 22.9 rebounds in the Finals, both rookie records.
1958-59 — 52-20; 1st Eastern Division; defeat Syracuse 4-3; sweep the Minneapolis Lakers; the first of nine consecutive championships.
1959-60 — 59-16; 1st Eastern Division; defeat the Philadelphia Warriors, 4-2, and the St. Louis Hawks, 4-3. Wilt Chamberlain joins the Warriors and is the NBA MVP and Rookie of the Year and instantly becomes Russell’s archrival.
1960-61 — 57-22; 1st Eastern Division; beat Syracuse, 4-1, and St. Louis, 4-1. Celtics win Game 1 of the Finals by 34 points. Heinsohn scores 26 points and pulls down 11 rebounds. Russell has 15 points and 31 rebounds. Russell is the NBA MVP.
1961-62 — 60-20; 1st Eastern Division; beat the Warriors, 4-3, in their last season in Philadelphia; defeat the Lakers, 4-3, in their second season in Los Angeles. Russell is the NBA MVP.
1962-63 —58-22; 1st Eastern Division; defeat Cincinnati Royals, 4-3; beat Lakers, 4-2. Russell is the All-Star Game MVP and NBA MVP. Bob Cousy retires as a six-time NBA champion.
1963-64 — 58-21; 1st Eastern Division; defeated the Royals of Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas, 4-1; beat the San Francisco Warriors, 4-1, in their second West Coast season.
1964-65 — 62-18; 1st Eastern Division; beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 4-3 — “Havlicek stole the ball!” — and the Lakers, 4-1. Chamberlain returns to Philadelphia from San Francisco in a trade; Russell is the NBA MVP and Red Auerbach the Coach of the Year; the best Celtics team to date with six future Hall of Famers: John Havlicek, Tom Heinsohn, Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, Sam Jones, and Tom Sanders
1965-66 — 54-26; 2nd Eastern Division; defeat Cincinnati, 3-2, Philadelphia, 4-1, and Los Angeles, 4-3. Philly snaps Boston’s 9-year as division champion; a division semifinal added to the playoffs; Celtics win Game 7 of the Finals, 95-93; Auerbach retires as coach and appoints Russell as player-coach, the first Black person to serve as head coach in a major professional sport.
1967-68 — 54-28, 2nd Eastern Division; defeat Detroit Pistons, 4-2; 76ers, 4-3; Lakers, 4-2. Celtics win Game 5 in OT and Game 6 by 15 in LA. Russell wins first ring as a coach.
1968-69 — 48-34, 4th Eastern Division; defeat 76ers, 4-1, Knicks, 4-2, Lakers, 4-3. The Celtics are getting old, the Lakers are primed to win the elusive title with the acquisition of Chamberlain. Celtics avoid a 3-1 hole when Sam Jones hits an off-balance buzzer beater for an 89-88 Game 4 victory. Game 7 starts with thousands of balloons suspended above the court at the Forum in anticipation of a Lakers win. Leading by a point with a little over a minute to play, Celtics sixth man Don Nelson hurries an 18-footer from the top of the key to beat the 24-second clock. The ball hits the back of the rim, bounces high in the air and drops through the hoop for a 105-102 lead. Celts win, 108-106. and become the first NBA team to overcome a 2-0 deficit and win the championship. Jerry West scores 42 points in the loss and is the Finals MVP, a recognition yet to be matched. Balloons remain in the rafters. Russell retires as player and coach. The Russell Era ends with 11 championships in 13 seasons.
1973-74 — 56-26, 1st Atlantic Division; beat Buffalo, 4-2, New York, 4-1, Milwaukee, 4-3. Celtics avenge their 1973 playoff loss to the Knicks in the Eastern Conference final and win their 12th title in Milwaukee. Havlicek is the Finals MVP.
1975-76 — 54-28, 1st Atlantic Division; defeat Buffalo, 4-2, Cleveland, 4-2, Phoenix, 4-2. Game 5 of the Finals is an instant classic. Havlicek’s running right hander off the glass at the buzzer of the second overtime is the game winner. But wait! The officials rule two seconds remain. Gar Heard’s turnaround jumper sends the game into the third overtime. Little used Glenn McDonald scores six points, and the Celtics prevail. Jo Jo White leads the Celtics in Game 6 and is the Finals MVP. Havlicek wins his eighth and final NBA title.
1980-81 — 62-20, 1st Atlantic Division; sweep Chicago, 4-0; beat Philadelphia, 4-3; defeat Houston, 4-2; Celtics rally from 3-1 down against Philly; the Big Three of Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale win the first of their three titles; Cedric Maxwell is the Finals MVP.
1983-84 — 62-20, 1st Atlantic Division; beat the Bullets, 4-1, Knicks, 4-3, Bucks, 4-1, Lakers, 4-3. Bird is the NBA MVP and Finals MVP; Kevin McHale earns the Sixth Man Award.
1985-86 — 67-15, 1st Atlantic Division; defeat the Bulls, 3-0, Hawks, 4-1, Bucks, 4-0, Rockets, 4-2. Bird is the NBA MVP and Finals MVP, and Bill Walton is the Sixth Man Award recipient. The 67 victories are second in franchise history after the 1973 team’s 68. Overall, the ’86 Celtics are 79-18.
2007-08 —66-16, 1st Atlantic Division; defeat Hawks, 4-3, Cavaliers, 4-3, Pistons, 4-2, Lakers, 4-2. Paul Pierce is the Finals MVP, Kevin Garnett the Defensive Player of the Year and Danny Ainge the Executive of the Year.
2023-24 – 64-18, 1st Atlantic Division; defeat Miami, 4-1, Cleveland, 4-1, Indiana 4-0, Dallas, 4-1. Jayson Tatum is All-NBA first team. Jaylen Brown is the Finals MVP. Counting playoffs, the champs are 80-21.
