BOSTON 鈥 With a Game 5 win on Monday night the Celtics sealed the NBA title, but Boston had actually been waiting for this moment for over a decade.
Just over five years after the Celtics claimed their 17th championship, Boston went into a complete rebuild on June 28, 2013, trading franchise centerpieces Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for a package that included role players and draft picks.
What followed was a stretch of nearly 11 years that featured ups and downs, plenty of change and a constant belief that Banner 18 was always just one season away.
Two of the draft picks in the Brooklyn deal ended up turning into Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, drafted third overall in 2016 and 2017, respectively. The Celtics decided to build around the duo, and it ended up being the right choice.
But before the arrival of Mr. Brown and Mr. Tatum, Boston went through the 25-57 2013-14 campaign that featured Jeff Green as the frontman. Then a 5-foot-9 Isaiah Thomas came to town and started to establish himself as 鈥淭he Little Guy,鈥 in the words of the late Tommy Heinsohn.
Those teams may not have realized it at the time, but they were laying the foundation for something special.
Once Mr. Brown鈥檚 rookie season rolled around, the Celtics were really starting to look like contenders. Mr. Thomas averaged 28.9 points per game during the 2016-17 season, leading Boston to its first Eastern Conference finals appearance since 2012.
The Celtics came up short but proceeded to load up the following offseason, trading for Kyrie Irving and signing Gordon Hayward. Even though Hayward fractured his left tibia just minutes into his Boston debut, the Celtics ended up returning to the East finals, where they fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers in seven games.
From there, Boston overcame a fallout with Irving and an underwhelming two seasons with Kemba Walker running the point to punch its ticket to the Finals in 2022. Heartbreak was again in the cards, though, as the Golden State Warriors raised the Larry O鈥橞rien Trophy after beating the Celtics in six games.
After getting bounced in the Eastern Conference finals once more a year ago, Boston went all in.
The Celtics parted ways with fan favorite Marcus Smart, considered by many to be the heart and soul of the team, to acquire Kristaps Porzingis via trade, and they also made a deal with the Portland Trail Blazers to bring in Jrue Holiday.
Those moves paid off, and now a league-record 18th banner will be raised this fall.
While this year鈥檚 team was the one that broke a 16-year title drought, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla is forever thankful for Mr. Green, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Smart and every other player that checked in for Boston over the past 11 seasons.
鈥淚 think the most important thing, something that鈥檚 really been going through my mind throughout this process, is you can鈥檛 lose sight of the people that came before us,鈥 Mr. Mazzulla said. 鈥淎nd I want to make sure every person that鈥檚 worked for the Celtics, that鈥檚 played for the Celtics that didn鈥檛 win, knows that their work and what they have done has not gone unnoticed or it doesn鈥檛 play a part in where we are at today.
鈥淚t can be so easy when you work for this organization and you don鈥檛 win that the work that people put in just gets brushed over or gets ignored. … So I think that鈥檚 one of the first things that came to mind, was just because we won this doesn鈥檛 mean what the people have done before us isn鈥檛 just as important.鈥
Through everything over the past seven years, Mr. Brown and Mr. Tatum have been the one constant. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been through a lot, the losses, the expectations,鈥 Mr. Brown said. 鈥淭he media have said all different types of things: We can鈥檛 play together, we are never going to win.
鈥淲e heard it all. But we just blocked it out, and we just kept going. I trusted him. He trusted me. And we did it together.鈥
Mr. Brown was named Finals MVP. He averaged 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists in the series, and Mr. Tatum quickly shot down any notions of him being jealous of his co-star.
鈥淓xtremely happy for him. This is a hell of an accomplishment,鈥 Mr. Tatum said. 鈥淭he main goal for us was to win a championship. We weren鈥檛 鈥 we didn鈥檛 care who got Finals MVP. I know that I need him through this journey, and he needs me.鈥
The Celtics had plans to fly down to Miami on Tuesday to celebrate for a bit before returning to Boston for their championship parade on Friday morning. And if all goes to plan, Celtics fans should get used to lining the streets and watching the city鈥檚 duck boats roll by. 鈥 Reuters
