All hopes since 2016 have finally been fulfilled, the Boston Celtics are the 2024 champions. It look like a long road to get here with a lot of departures and shake-ups but there has been one man at the center of it all since his rookie year, Jayson Tatum. Success looked like it came with this insane prospect out of Duke. The team made it back to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2018 and headed for two NBA Finals runs before finally reaching basketball immortality against the Luka Doncic-led Dallas Mavericks. He along with Jaylen Brown and the rest finally did it with a 106-88 scoreline.
Before delivering a gentleman's sweep to the Mavericks
The journey that Jayson Tatum had before this NBA Finals triumph was bumpy and full of vitriol. He was not the best entering the 2017 NBA Draft and was just picked third overall. But, he emerged as a generational talent under the guidance of Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens. His years of partnership with Jaylen Brown were so dominant that they were immediate contenders almost every year. So, his words after capturing the historic franchise's 18th banner were very emotionally charged, via ESPN.
WE DID IT!
Celtics greats tend to speak in three-word sentences after winning the NBA Finals. Exactly 16 years ago, it was also Kevin Garnett who exclaimed ‘Anything is possible' after they had closed the Los Angeles Lakers out. Tatum and Jaylen Brown now join the table which includes Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Paul Pierce, Tommy Heinsohn, Sam Jones, Larry Bird, and Kevin McHale among others to win a chip for the storied franchise.
While he was in the running to win MVP in these NBA Finals, it was just not fate. However, this did not bother the newly crowned champion. Just like those three words that he immediately spewed out after the win, all Tatum cares about is winning as a collective.
Surely, this will not be the last time the Celtics reach basketball immortality with the duo they drafted in 2016 and 2017
Jayson Tatum's NBA Finals run with the Celtics
To put it simply, he did not need his shots to fall to have an impact in the NBA Finals and even in their postseason run. Tatum learned that the hard way back in 2022 when their offense stalled a lot which resulted to a big loss to the Golden State Warriors. Now, he learned a lot of playmaking from the Joe Mazzulla-led coaching staff. In effect, Tatum became a dime-dropping machine that still had gravity on drives. It was perfect for the Celtics who needed opponents like the Mavericks to collapse before hitting their threes.
In this run to the NBA Finals and the Larry O'Brien trophy, he mustered up six assists on a nightly basis. The Celtics superstar then paired it up with 24.7 points on a 42.5% clip in all three levels of scoring. All of this was just on offense.
On the other side of the floor, he was closing out defensive coverages and getting second-chance opportunities. Tatum ended the postseason by averaging 9.8 of them. His ability to find broken passes and track down ballhandlers also led to a steal per game.
He helped the Celtics do it!
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