This article requires pre-publication review by an uninvolved reviewer (one not substantially involved in writing the article). –Article last amended: Jun 18 at 13:30:20 UTC (history) |
| This article requires pre-publication review by an uninvolved reviewer (one not substantially involved in writing the article). –Article last amended: Jun 18 at 13:30:20 UTC (history) |
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
On Monday evening, the Boston Celtics won the NBA championship in a historic 106–88 victory against the Dallas Mavericks in the fifth game. With this victory, the Celtics have now won 18 titles, the highest number of titles in NBA history, surpassing the Los Angeles Lakers, who have 17. The Celtics’ latest title coincides with the sixteenth anniversary of their previous title; on June 17, 2008, the Celtics defeated the Lakers 131–92 and earned their 17th title. Both the 2008 and 2024 games were played at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
During the trophy presentation ceremony, Celtics players celebrated the victory, including Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who have played together on the team for seven years. “You have very few chances in life to be great,” their coach, Joe Mazzulla, said, “you’ve got to take the bull by the horns, and you’ve got to own it, and our guys owned it.” Tatum described the event as “a night that [he] will remember for the rest of [his] life.” Describing his long-term friendship with Brown, Tatum thanked the fans, saying, “We owed our fans, it been a long journey. It’s been a long journey.” Brown, speaking of his teammate, affectionately referred to him as his “partner in crime” who was “with [him] the whole way,” before embracing him.
This championship title was the first for this duo. In the seven years since Tatum’s and Brown’s debut in 2017, the duo had attended all playoffs and played 107 postseason games prior to Monday night. No other duo in NBA history has played more games without a title. Jaylen Brown was named the MVP of the NBA Finals.
List of sports teams with the most NBA championships
| Rank | Team | Championship Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Celtics | 18 |
| 2 | Los Angeles Lakers | 17 |
| 3 | Golden State Warriors | 7 |
| 4 | Chicago Bulls | 6 |
| 5 | San Antonio Spurs | 5 |
- Jack Maloney. “Boston Celtics win 2024 NBA championship: Franchise clinches historic 18th title beating Mavericks in Game 5” — CBS Sports, June 18, 2024
- Tim Bontemps. “Celtics top Mavericks in Game 5, win record 18th NBA championship” — ESPN, June 17, 2024
- Tom Lutz. “Boston Celtics beat Dallas Mavericks in NBA finals to win record 18th title” — The Guardian, June 17, 2024
- Emma Healy. “Finals MVP after a 21-point performance in Game 5” — Boston Globe, June 18, 2024
- Austin Nivison. “Celtics rout Mavericks to capture Banner 18; Yankees’ Aaron Judge is on a tremendous roll” — CBS Sports, June 18, 2024
