BOSTON- Whatever is needed.
The message on the T-shirts covering every seat at TD Garden was simple, but iconic. Championships require sacrifice, and when the Celtics entered Game 5 of the 2024 NBA Finals needing just one win to reach the top of the NBA, no sacrifice was too great.
Joe Mazzulla trained on a torn meniscus. Kristaps Porzingis risked his left leg. Derrick White sacrificed part of a tooth. And after 48 minutes, the Celtics were champions.
Only they were much more than those 48 minutes.
The Celtics’ 2024 NBA title was a championship 16 years in the making. 16 years, three head coaches, two Finals losses and one heartbreaking trade later, Boston was hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy again.
Porzingis and White’s willingness to do whatever it took to win Game 5 were the final sacrifices of a 16-year span in which the Celtics organization did whatever it took to return to the top of the NBA. Any results less than a championship? Unacceptable. That’s Boston.
Boston calls itself the City of Champions and the nickname reflects the standard of excellence set by the area’s franchises. In Boston you win and you win, something I learned is quite different during my experience in Games 1, 2 and 5 of the Finals.
These Celtics didn’t just win in Boston. they won in Boston.
Poetically, the Celtics won their NBA-record 18th title in front of their fans at TD Garden, 16 years to the day of their last championship-clinching victory, which also occurred on the famed floor of Boston parquet.
After a long quest for Banner No. 18, Boston captured the title in front of nearly 20,000 fans who experienced all the ups and downs during a 16-year journey back to the top. Those lows made the highs that much sweeter.
As Boston began to pull away from Dallas in Game 5, you could feel the nervous energy in the building transforming into celebratory excitement. With the Celtics holding a 19-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, you could feel it in the building. Sign number 18 was on its way. The fans I just knew it.
“Over the last two years, we had some tough losses at home in the playoffs,” Jayson Tatum explained as the reality of being an NBA champion set in after the game.
“We lost the NBA Championship at home in front of our fans. We had a chance to beat Miami in Game 6 a few years ago and we lost it. So to have a big win, the biggest win you can have in front of your home crowd, I felt like it was really important to go out there and do everything in my power to make sure we win this game tonight.”
Everything that is in your power. Whatever is needed.
Tatum has detailed on numerous occasions that he grew up in the city of Boston. Seven years after joining the storied franchise as a 19-year-old with unlimited potential, Tatum is a five-time All-Star, four-time All-NBA selection and one-time NBA champion.
As Tatum rode a boat through the streets of Boston during the team’s championship parade, he repeatedly said, “I love you” to every group of fans he passed.
@jaytatum0 I have to let the fans know that he loves them ?? pic.twitter.com/EvvutlnGc4
– Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) June 21, 2024
It is clear that the feeling is mutual.
The element of growing up in Boston also applies to Jaylen Brown, who joined the franchise a year before Tatum. Like Tatum, Brown has been the subject of a lot of unwarranted criticism during his eight years in Boston, but he too is now a champion and the Finals MVP to boot.
Jrue Holiday came to Boston with a championship mentality, fully understanding his role as the final piece of the puzzle when the franchise acquired him ahead of the 2023-24 season. The journey from being introduced in October to winning a championship in June was quick, but from the beginning he understood that the expectation was a championship.
Of all the Celtics, Al Horford’s journey was the longest. After 17 years and an eight-year journey with the Celtics that included a two-year detour elsewhere, Horford was finally an NBA champion.
As he sat down to reflect on another career-defining achievement, Horford recalled a conversation he had with Danny Ainge during a 2016 free agency meeting.
“[Ainge] He said, “You can win championships in a lot of places, but there’s nothing like winning in Boston.” There’s nothing like winning like Celtic. And that stuck with me in that meeting. I thought, ‘Man, I’m trying to be great and that’s what I want.'”
Winning is sweet, but as Horford’s final moments on the court in Game 5 demonstrate, winning in Boston is even sweeter.
Al Horford leaves the game ? pic.twitter.com/g6uFtyHD9C
– Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) June 18, 2024
From Mazzulla and the Celtics’ six core players to the team’s “stay ready” group that participated in rigorous scrimmages hours before kickoff, every member of the franchise understood that no sacrifice was too great to achieve the ultimate goal of a team. 18th championship.
As the Celtics celebration continues into the summer, understand that the expectation of greatness and standards of excellence this city maintains means this group will be even hungrier for what’s next.
It’s entirely possible that this 2024 championship is just the beginning.
