After the Celtics left the door slightly ajar for the Mavericks in Dallas on Friday, they slammed it shut Monday night in Boston, storming out to a 21-point halftime lead and ultimately cruising to a 106-88 victory to capture their first NBA title since 2008. The game was carried live on 92.9 FM ESPN. Full coverage on Tuesday (6/18).
Whereas the Celtics couldn’t do anything right in Game 4, they got just about everything – and everyone – going in Game 5 right from the opening tip.
Jrue Holiday scored Boston’s first six points of the game, and then Al Horford – finally a champion at 38 years old – drilled a 3 to give the Celtics a 9-2 lead and force an early Dallas timeout.
From there, Boston’s stars and stellar team defense took over for the remainder of the first half. Jayson Tatum, criticized for some poor shooting in this series, scored or assisted on 15 of the Celtics’ 25 first-half buckets, posting a game-high 16 points (on 6-of-11 shooting) and nine assists. He also had four rebounds and a steal in the half.
Tatum finished the game with 31 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds and two steals. He also passed his idol, Kobe Bryant, for the most playoff points in NBA history before turning 27.
Jaylen Brown was right behind him with 15 first-half points, to go along with four rebounds, two assists and a steal. The two of them outscored the Mavs’ two stars, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, 31-14 in the half. Brown finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists and was named Finals MVP, adding to his Eastern Conference Finals MVP.
The Celtics forced eight turnovers in the first half, while committing just two themselves. They led in fast-break points 10-2, second-chance points 7-4, and points in the paint 30-24. As coach Joe Mazzulla has stressed all season, they won the margins.
The Celtics ended the first quarter on a 9-0 run. Tatum had a transition assist, a steal, and a transition layup during that stretch. Sam Hauser had a steal and a 3, one of his two triples in the first half.
After the Mavs pulled within nine with just under five minutes left in the half, the Celtics mounted a 19-7 run going into the break to just about put the game away. The exclamation point was a half-court 3 from Payton Pritchard at the buzzer, his second such shot of this series.
Pritchard had not played at all in the first half to that point, but subbed in with four seconds left just for that shot, one he practices often and takes pride in taking, and making. He became the first player in NBA Finals history to make two 30-foot buzzer-beaters in one series. As Derrick White said last week, “That’s what Payton Pritchard does.”
That shot sent the Garden into a frenzy heading into the half, and the party was on from there. The Celtics opened the third quarter with an 11-6 run to push the lead as high as 26. The Mavericks then made a little bit of a push, but never got closer than 17 points.
The win capped off a postseason in which the Celtics went 16-3. That followed a regular season in which they finished seven games better than any other team, and 14 games better than anyone else in the Eastern Conference.
Fittingly, the Celtics' starters all got a moment in the spotlight late in regulation with the game out of reach. First, Mazzulla subbed off Horford to a standing ovation. Then Tatum and Brown together. And then Holiday and White. A couple minutes later, everyone was covered in green and white championship confetti on the parquet floor.
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