Written by: Bafokeng Mothebe
The Boston Celtics have won the 2023/2024 NBA season following their Game 5 win against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night. This is the Celtics first title since 2008 when they beat the Los Angeles Lakers.
Game 5 ended with a final score of 106-88, to complete a 4-1 series win for the Celtics, at TD Garden, in the NBA Finals. The Eastern Conference champions won the first three games, giving them a 3-0 advantage, that has proved to be difficult to come back from, in all rounds of the NBA Playoffs and NBA Finals.
Jaylen Brown was crowned the Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP), after he accepted the Bill Russell Trophy, from NBA League Commissioner Adam Silver. “It was a full team effort and I share this with my brothers and my partner in crime Jayson Tatum, he was with me the whole way,” Brown said in his acceptance speech. Brown averaged 20.8 points, 5.4 points, and 5 assists per game in the five-game series.
The Dallas Mavericks hoped that Game 5 would go their way, after winning Game 4 at home by 122-84, however, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving’s 28 points and 15 points respectively in Game 5, were not enough to guide the team to victory.
The Celtics’ last appearance in the NBA Finals was in 2022, when they lost to the Golden State Warriors, and they lost the Eastern Conference Finals to the Miami Heat last year, before going all the way to the 2024 Finals.
The Celtics stand on top, with the League’s most wins, with 18 championships, breaking away from a tie they had with the Lakers, who remain on 17 wins.