Finals Game Five: 18 and Golden

I have seen a number of playoff series in the NBA, NHL, and MLB where a team is up 3-0 with a chance to sweep. Sometimes, the sweep's completed, but there have been moments where the team down 3-0 wins Game Four. Now, when that happens, it's the same sentiment: "Well, at least they didn't get swept." You can always tell whether or not Game Four serves as that lone win in the series or not. A few times, said team does win Game Five. In rare moments, they actually make it to Game Seven. And as we all know, there have only been five overall moments between the leagues where a team actually won four straight to win the series after losing the first three games.

In the case of the 2024 NBA Finals, it was clear that the Dallas Mavericks' dominant Game Four win over the Boston Bruins served as a broom breaker, and nothing more.

The Celtics were ready. The home fans in attendance were ready. The entire New England region was ready. The first quarter was close, but Boston ran away at the end of the period and led by double digits. It would be like this for the rest of the way. This was a script we saw in the Celtics' previous three wins in the series. Dallas had no answer for Jaylen Brown, they had no answer for Jayson Tatum, hell, they even gave up a buzzer-beater before halftime that put Boston up by 21 at halftime. It was over at that point. There was nothing that the Mavericks could do except play out the second half and watch the clock tick down all the way to zero, and when it did, the Celtics stood alone in the entire National Basketball Association.

The Boston Celtics won Game Five, 106-88, and with that, they are NBA Champions for the record 18th time. They took the lead back from the Los Angeles Lakers. I remember that Boston had the championship lead for years, and then the Lakers started winning in the beginning of the 2000s, so it had been neck-and-neck between the two rivals. While this is their 18th championship, it is their first since 2008, which happened to come against the Lakers. Jayson Tatum led the way for the Celtics in Game Five, finishing just two rebounds shy of a triple-double (31 points, 8 rebounds, 11 assists).

I, and many others, expected Jayson Tatum to capture the Finals MVP, but that nod ended up going to Jaylen Brown, who averaged 20 points per game in the series. Brown made history; becoming the first to win Finals MVP despite not making this year's All-NBA squad. Speaking of Brown, he and Tatum had played in 107 playoff games together before winning their first ring. That's amazing. So many players won their first one, with Jrue Holiday being an exception, as previously won with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021. However, the biggest story out of that group had to be Al Horford, as he was part of that club--so many years, never won...until now.

The Boston Celtics went 16-3 in this year's playoffs. Only three losses total; one in Round 1, one in the East Semis, and one in the NBA Finals. That's it. It had me thinking of the Lakers back in 2001, as that team went 15-1 in their championship run (back then, the first round was best-of-five), and their only loss came in Game One of the Finals. It's an amazing run, but honestly, they should be thanking the Pacers for beating the Knicks out, because New York would have beaten Boston in the East Finals had we received that matchup. This is their 18th championship, but here's the thing: if they had shown up in 2022 and if Tatum had been healthy during Boston's attempt to pull of that reverse sweep last year, this could have possibly been #20. Think about that.

As for the Dallas Mavericks, well, they exceeded expectations. Fifth seed in the Western Conference, ousted the Clippers, upset the top-seeded Thunder, and made mincemeat of a Timberwolves team who dethroned the Nuggets. They do have a lot to be proud of, but I have two bits of advice for the Mavs: fire Jason Kidd and trade Kyrie Irving.

Another NBA season is in the books, and the Celtics are now the early favorites to repeat and win #19 next year. The Nuggets, the 2023 Champs, are second, and the Timberwolves are third. Should be interesting to see what happens next year, but that's next year. This year, the Celtics are on top of the world--in more ways than one.

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