At long last, the Boston Celtics have their 18th NBA championship.
The Celtics, hosting the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 on Monday night, defeated the Mavericks 106-88. They held a 67-46 lead at halftime after a Payton Pritchard buzzer-beater and continued to cruise in the second half.
Jaylen Brown, who was named Finals MVP, scored 21 points and had 8 rebounds and 6 assists. He was just 7-for-23 in the game and 2-for-9 from three-point range. Over the course of the series, he averaged 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 5.0 assists on 44 percent from the field. Jayson Tatum scored 31 points with 11 assists and 8 rebounds in Game 5, on 11-for-24 shooting and was only 1-for-7 from three-point range. In the series, Tatum averaged 22.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 7.2 assists on 38.8 percent shooting. Jrue Holiday had a strong output in Game 5 with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Derrick White scored 14 points and had 8 rebounds.
Luka Doncic led the Mavericks with 28 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists and was 12-for-25 from the field and 2-for-9 from distance. Kyrie Irving finished with 15 points and 9 assists but was just 5-for-16 from the field.
The series win for the Celtics gives them the all-time championship record, surpassing their rival Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers, including their championships won in Minneapolis, have hung 17 banners, with the latest in the 2020 bubble.
A dominant season was put together by the Celtics, a team that won 64 games in the regular season and had one of the most potent offenses in history. In fact, they had the highest offensive rating of any team in league history. They also shot the three ball at a extraordinary clip and had scoring threats at all five positions in addition to stellar defense, the perfect recipe for a championship team.
The Mavericks, meanwhile, have more work to do to get back to the Finals in a conference that is loaded with top talent and teams. Denver, Oklahoma City, and Minnesota are not going anywhere, and there are still the veteran teams like the Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers and Phoenix Suns that will look to retool and still
contend. More and more though, it is looking like the youth is going to rule the Western Conference moving forward. Doncic and Irving with more scoring help will certainly be a factor next season.
Coincidentally, the Celtics winning the championship on June 17 is 16 years to the day that the team won their last title, in 2008 with a 131-92 rout of the Lakers in Game 6, also in Boston.
Head coach Joe Mazzulla, 35, became the youngest Finals winning head coach since Bill Russell in 1969. Russell served as player-coach in the Celtics’ 4-3 series win over the Lakers.
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