The Boston Celtics are your 2024 NBA Champions! They have won for the first time in 16 years as they beat the Mavs in 5 games and beat them in the final game 106-88. I was very wrong about this series. I thought the star power of Kyrie and Luka would overwhelm the Celtics, especially down the stretch of games but a lot of these games were decided by the end of the 3rd quarter and Kyrie was not very good in the 3 games in Boston where he averaged 14.3 points per game on just 34% shooting from the field. I am not pinning this finals loss on Kyrie because Boston was the better team and the Mavs would have probably lost anyway had he played a little better. The Celtics finished the postseason with a 16-3 record which is up there with some of the all-time great runs but non-Boston fans won't view it as an all-time great run because of the competition they played leading up to the finals. Yes, they played injury-riddled teams but they did a great job taking care of business and beating the teams they were supposed to and in dominant fashion. They beat the Heat in 5, the Cavs in 5, the Pacers in 4, and the Mavs in 5. I'm not sure those results would be that much different had the star players been healthy for all those teams been healthy. Maybe it may have taken an extra game here or there but the truth is nobody in the East was beating Boston 4 times in a span of 7 games.
I think what made Boston unique was the way they were able to space the floor and the fact that their best 2 players could break down the defense and get to the paint consistently. When Tatum or Brown get to the basket, they are skilled enough to finish over their defender and when the help defender comes, they can kick it out for 3 Boston does a good job making the extra pass and it always ends up in the hands of a wide-open shooter. The fact that almost everyone on the Celtics has a viable 3-point shot puts so much pressure on the defense and it forces teams to spread their defense out and leave the paint vulnerable. It forces defenses to be perfect on nearly every possession which just makes their margin for error that much slimmer. What's most impressive about this series was that the Celtics didn't rely on their 3-point shooting to beat Dallas. They won with their defense. They held that high-octane offense of Dallas to under 100 points in 4 out of the 5 games. As good as their offense was all year, they were equally as good on defense. With their starting 5 all positioned to return next year there is no reason to believe they can't repeat next season and should be the favorites to win it all again.
Finally, Jason Tatum and Jaylen deserve their respect. Brown has been given flack for not "being able to dribble" with his left hand and Tatum has received a lot of criticism for his crunch-time performances and his performances in the big game. Statistically, Tatum was not great on the court shooting the ball as he had 22 ppg on just 39% shooting but when you watch the games you can see how much his game has matured, and when his shot wasn't falling he let his playmaking and defense put the team in better situations. And now he's a champ and no one can take that away from him. As for Jaylen Brown, he won the WCF MVP and Finals MVP. There's nothing more to say. It is cool to see players like Al Horford get a ring after being in the league for 17 years. Shoutout to Porzingis, Holiday, White, and the rest of the Celtics team for this Championship. It was truly a team effort and they deserve all the credit in the world for being consistent all year.
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