After a poor showing in a 38 point loss in Game 4 in Dallas on Friday where they had a chance to sweep the NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics jumped out to a 21 point halftime lead on Monday night at TD Garden in Game 5 and hammered the Mavericks 106-88 to win the series 4-1 for their record setting 18th title and first since 2008. The championship comes on the 16th anniversary of title 17 back on 6/17/08 at TD Garden when they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 in Game 6.
Boston never trailed. Leading 19-18 with 1:55 left in the first quarter, the Celtics ended the period on a 9-0 run on a Jaylen Brown dunk, a three-pointer by Sam Hauser, a reverse layup by Brown, and then a layup by Jayson Tatum to build the advantage to 28-18. For the second time in the series, Payton Pritchard would nail a long shot to extend his teams lead. This time it was a bomb from halfcourt just as the second quarter buzzer sounded to make it 67-46 at the break.
The lead went to as many as 26 in the third quarter, as Boston cruised to overtake the Los Angeles Lakers 18-17 in world championship banners.
Tatum led Boston with 31 points, eight rebounds, 11 assists, and two steals. He becomes the first Celtic to have 30 plus points and 10 plus assists in a Finals game. The star guard also passes Kobe Bryant for career playoff points for players younger than 27. Brown had 21 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and two steals. Brown took home the Bill Russell Trophy (Finals MVP). Also scoring in double figures was Jrue Holiday and Derrick White with 15 and 14 points respectively. The Celtics took great care of the basketball only committing seven turnovers on the night. Luka Doncic led the West Champions from Dallas with 28 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Kyrie Irving had a bad shooting game finishing with 15 points (5-16, 3-9 from the three-pointer arc). The Mavericks end their season with a record of 63-41. Tatum also had 30 plus points and 10 plus assists in a clinching game, joining a list of just four other players to do that in the NBA Finals- Walt Frazier Game 7 NY Knicks (1970), James Worthy Game 7 LA Lakers (1988), Michael Jordan Game 5 Chicago Bulls (1991), and Steph Curry Game 5 Golden State Warriors (2017). Boston finishes a historic season with a record of 80-21, their second best in franchise history behind just the 1985-86 club who also won it all and lost one fewer game (80-20). Joe Mazzulla also became the youngest head coach to lead a team to a championship (35 years old) since Bill Russell, who was also 35 when he led the C’s to a title as a player/coach in 1969.
