The Celtics: Champions once more.
After ousting the Mavericks in five, Boston has won their 18th title - the most in NBA history.
Knock on any door long enough and eventually, you’ll kick it in.
And if any recent NBA team has truly epitomized this thinking? It is the Boston Celtics.
Since the Jayson Tatum/Jaylen Brown Era began, the Celtics have established themselves as one of the steadiest teams in the Association - outside of their first round loss to Brooklyn in 2020, they have made deep playoff runs their forte.
And on Monday night they finally went further than anyone else.
They are the 2024 NBA Champions, after defeating the Dallas Mavericks in five games, with a resounding 106-88 victory.
In a way, it wasn’t all that surprising.
The Celtics were the favourite preseason pick, racked up 64 wins, a .780 winning-percentage during a regular season (best in the NBA) and bulldozed their way through the last two months of playoff basketball - losing just three games on their way to the title.
The Mavericks held them off in Game 4, to avoid a sweep but even then, despite their own talent, it seemed increasingly unlikely that they would push the Celtics to seven.
Boston, being just too complete, too ready for the moment.
They never once trailed in the deciding game and although Dallas worked to keep them within striking distance, the Celtics never took their foot of the gas - they ended the first quarter on a 12-3 run and lead by 21 at halftime.
As perfunctory as it could be, as they rode their lead right to the final buzzer.
So as the confetti came down inside TD Garden a few hours later, it was the explanation point on the success that has defined both their season and this era. The championship, the franchise’s first since 2008, is also their eighteenth overall: the most in NBA history, breaking their tie at seventeen with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The question is, could it be the start of something bigger?
And while you can’t win championships without collective effort: from Jrue Holiday, with 15 points and 11 boards and Derrick White, with fourteen points of his own in Game 5, the duo around which the Celtics orbit is that of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
In the Always-Online NBA community, Tatum and his career-long success have become something of a meme that will never die. Just a rookie and still a teenager when Boston reached the East Finals in 2018, he was hyped by the media circuit to the point of (continued) parody.
The reality is though, he is only 26, a four-time All-NBA selection and one of the most well-rounded players in the sport, who has finished top-ten in regular season MVP voting for three straight seasons.
And now he has reached the summit, as an NBA Champion.
But Jaylen Brown, equally, deserves praise. The Finals MVP, he averaged 20.8/5.0/5.0 over the five Finals games and outside of Game 4, the lone Dallas win, he was the team’s most consistent contributor.
Together, they have established themselves as one of top tandems in basketball. And while those in the Greater New England Area would no doubt be eager to anoint 2024 as Year One of a potential dynasty, there are no guarantees in pro sports.
The Denver Nuggets were pegged as the team to beat coming out of the West, as they looked to defend last year’s title but were ousted in the second round this time around - led by Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray, you can sure they’ll be raring to prove their early exit was nothing but a slight misstep come the fall.
As will Minnesota, Indiana and everyone else.
And on that note, what of the Mavericks?
Luka Dončić, when the smoke cleared, may have ended up empty-handed but that doesn’t mean his run was without merit: he led everyone, the whole NBA, in points, rebounds and assists during the playoff season. Battling various injuries, he put up 28 points on Monday, the only Dallas player to surpass 20.
Per Tim Reynolds of AP, no other player has made the pure statistical impact he has during their first six seasons.
With more experience in their corner, the Mavericks should be even more competitive come 2024/2025.
Point being? Chances are, the Celtics won’t find any possible path to back-to-back titles to be an easy one - but for now, they’ll simply take in their victory as is, hard-earned and not without toil.
A new benchmark for the franchise and the league as a whole, anchored by one of basketball’s most exciting one-two punches.
The stuff legends are made of.
