BOSTON, MA — The 2023-24 Boston Celtics have had one goal in mind. Dominating the regular season wasn't it, and neither was winning the Eastern Conference. The only thing that matters for Boston this season is capturing a title and bringing home the elusive banner No. 18.
Although winning a championship is every team's end goal, anything else isn't acceptable for the Celtics. Their players, coaching staff, and higher-ups all understand that.
“The good thing about playing for the Boston Celtics is that the expectation is always there,” Celtics center Al Horford said during a Wednesday afternoon press conference. “When I came here eight years ago, this is what I came here for, for these kind of moments.”
During this deep playoff run, the league-leading C's exercised demons by crushing the Miami Heat in the first round and then asserted their dominance over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the following series. In the Eastern Conference Finals, Boston made quick work of the Indiana Pacers with multiple comebacks en route to a sweep. The only remaining obstacle is the Dallas Mavericks.
Despite the Mavs' status as a No. 5 seed, they're dangerous and loaded with star power. They beat the talented Los Angeles Clippers, the first-place Oklahoma City Thunder, and the tough Minnesota Timberwolves on their way to the championship round.
Defeating Dallas won't be easy, yet the Celtics are more than capable of doing so. Let's delve into three reasons why the Celtics will prevail over the Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals.
The Celtics' balance on both sides of the ball
There's no denying Boston's stardom, but its all-around depth on offense and defense is arguably more impressive.
First off, there are the headliners: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The pair of 2024 All-Stars are known for their scoring, and with good reason. However, both members of this dynamic duo have improved on defense and shown that they're willing to work on both ends of the floor.
Brown made major defensive plays that shifted the momentum of at least two contests in the Eastern Conference Finals. He forced a crucial turnover in Game 1 and had a major block in Game 4—not to mention, he dropped 40 points in Game 2.
As for Tatum, his defense has been just as solid. His size and strength pose a problem for a lot of players, including opposing stars.
With that being said, Tatum and Brown aren't the Celtics' best defenders, which is a good thing. Two-way guards Jrue Holiday and Derrick White boast stellar on-ball defense and some of the most active hands in the league. For their efforts, they were both named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team.
While defense is what Holiday and White have built their reputations on, they're also potent weapons on offense. Holiday scored a season-high 28 points in Boston's Game 1 victory over the Pacers and White helped close out the series with a go-ahead triple with under a minute to go in Game 4.
“D-White has been great all season long,” Brown said during his press conference on Wednesday. “He's been aggressive. We've empowered him. He's primed for these moments. We want him to come out and recognize when it's his time to strike. We feel comfortable with him doing so because he's been doing it all season long.”
The last piece to Boston's starting five is center Kristaps Porzingis. The Latvian big man hasn't played since Game 4 of the first round due to a calf strain, but he was taken off the injury report ahead of Game 1 versus Dallas.
At 7-foot-2, Porzingis is a menacing shot blocker who can protect the paint like no other Celtic. That'll be necessary against a high-flying Dallas team that loves its alley-oops and rim runs.
His height suggests that he's a defensive specialist, yet Porzingis is arguably more of an offensive threat. His post-up game is lethal and his size allows him to rise up over a majority of defenders. The only question mark that remains for Porzingis is his health, as a soleus strain isn't an easy injury to recover from.
“It's going to be goose bumps, for sure, especially not playing for a while, then coming back in this kind of environment,” Porzingis told the media when asked about his return. “It's going to be special. Going to be goose bumps, for sure. I'm really, really, really looking forward to it.”
This isn't uncharted territory for most of the Celtics
It's difficult to quantify the importance of experience on the biggest stage.
The lack of Finals experience certainly impacted the C's in 2022 though, as no one on their roster had ever been that far in the postseason before. Conversely, the dynastic Golden State Warriors didn't flinch, even after trailing 2-1 in the series. Boston didn't seem ready for the bright lights, leading to a disastrous collapse in Game 4 and an eventual 4-2 series loss.
“I think it's a thing,” Horford said about the significance of previous experience. “I think so. I think being in this position, this situation, everything we have to manage, it can be overwhelming your first time dealing with all this.”
In 2024, things are different for the C's. Outside of Porzingis, every starter has been to the Finals at least once. Holiday even won it all in 2021 with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Bench guys like Horford, point guard Payton Pritchard, and center Luke Kornet also know what it's like to be in the Finals. While experience isn't enough to defeat the Mavs—who have Kyrie Irving, the owner of one of the most famous shots in NBA Finals history—it certainly doesn't hurt.
“At the beginning of camp, that's all we've been talking about, being in this position again,” Horford said ahead of Game 1. “I'm just grateful.”
The Celtics are desperate for a taste of Finals victory
The idea of a team that's been in the Finals twice in the last three seasons being desperate sounds a little silly. But for the Celtics, it's realistic.
The Green Team hasn't won a championship since 2008, and no Boston team has won it all in five years. For a city that's had multiple teams approach immortality just to fall short, that's incredibly frustrating.
There's little love for second-place teams in Beantown. Plus, being a runner-up in the NBA doesn't guarantee free passage to future Finals, via Bobby Krivitsky of SI.com:
“You don’t always get a second chance,” Tatum stated after practice on Saturday. “It's just another series that we've gotta win.”
Boston's championship window is wide open at the moment, but that doesn't mean it'll stay that way. Eastern Conference foes will try to keep pace in free agency, Western Conference youngsters like Victor Wembanyama are only going to improve, and the Celtics will have a giant target on their backs no matter what happens in the Finals.
Additionally, the front office is investing a lot of money into this current iteration of the Celtics, stressing the importance of winning now even more.
The C's understand this and have played desperately this postseason. They've prevented series against inferior opponents from dragging on, they've battled back while down big in the clutch, and they've dominated in times when past Celtics' teams have struggled. The players also realize that for their own legacies, a ring would do wonders.
“I think this is a special group. I really do,” Brown said on Wednesday. “The core group of it has been here for a few years now. We've been able to go through the experiences of having success but not having success at the same time. I think to solidify the ultimate goal is to get over the hump and win. I think that will add a lot to our legacy. But as of right now, that story is kind of still untold.”
To finish the story, the Celtics will have to be what they've been nearly all season: consistent. They have the tools to do so, they just have to execute under the pressure of the NBA Finals.
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