Tag: Celtics

Ownership group of Boston Celtics putting team up for sale

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Majority owner Wyc Grousbeck of the Boston Celtics holds up the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy after Boston’s 106-88 win against the Dallas Mavericks in Game Five of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden on June 17, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. Adam Glanzman/Getty Images/AFP

BOSTON — The ownership group that controls the NBA champion Boston Celtics says it intends to sell all its shares of the team.

In a statement released Monday, Boston Basketball Partners LLC said it intends to sell the majority of its shares in 2024 or early 2025. The balance of its shares would then close in 2028.

Wyc Grousbeck, whose family leads the ownership group, is expected to remain the team’s NBA governor until the sale is complete.

“The controlling family of the ownership group, after considerable thought and internal discussion, has decided to sell the team for estate and family planning considerations,” the statement said.

The Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals last month to capture the franchise’s 18th championship.

READ: NBA: Celtics’ Brad Stevens expects only roster tweaks in repeat bid

Boston Basketball Partners — led by venture capitalist Grousbeck, his father and investor H. Irving Grousbeck, along with venture capitalist Steve Pagliuca — purchased the Celtics for $360 million from the Gaston family in 2002. The Gastons had owned the team since 1983.

One of the NBA’s original and storied brands, the Celtics were valued at $4.7 billion last year by Forbes, placing them behind only the Golden State Warriors ($7.7 billion), New York Knicks ($6.6 billion) and Los Angeles Lakers ($6.4 billion).

The current ownership group was in charge when the Celtics won the NBA title in 2008.

READ: Boston salutes Celtics’ record 18th NBA championship with parade 

In an email to Celtics staff that was obtained by The Associated Press, Wyc Grousbeck wrote they are “committed to finding a worthy incoming ownership group who will guide the Celtics to more decades of success.”

He added: “There will be a thoughtful and thorough process to find a buyer that recognizes the importance of Celtic Pride on the court and in the community.”

Last year, the Phoenix Suns were purchased by mortgage firm owner Mat Ishbia for $4 billion. That was followed by the sale of the Milwaukee Bucks to Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam for $3.5 billion. Last November, Mark Cuban agreed to the sale of the majority of his Dallas Mavericks’ ownership shares to Miriam Adelson and son-in-law Patrick Dumont, who operates the Las Vegas Sands casino company, for $3.5 billion.



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Celtics’ Jayson Tatum agrees to 5-year, $314M extension

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Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, left, celebrates next to Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca, right, near the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy after the Celtics won the NBA championship with a Game 5 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Jayson Tatum is the newest member of the NBA’s $300 million club.

The Boston Celtics star has agreed to a five-year, $314 million contract extension to remain with the reigning NBA champions, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Monday.

The new pact will begin with the 2025-26 season and keep the five-time All-Star in Boston through 2029-30 season, according to the person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it has not been announced.

The Athletic and ESPN were first to report the deal.

READ: NBA: Jayson Tatum says past pain inspired Boston Celtics

When completed Tatum’s new, supermax contract will become the largest in NBA history, supplanting the one signed last offseason by teammate Jaylen Brown, when he inked a five-year deal that will pay him up to $304 million.

Tatum averaged 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists and shot 47% from the field in earning All-NBA first-team honors for the third consecutive season. Those numbers grew to 25 points, 9.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game during a playoff run in which he eclipsed 30 points six times, including 31 in their championship-clinching Game 5 win over the Dallas Mavericks.

He will look to add to his hardware this summer as a member of the U.S. men’s basketball team when it attempts to capture its fifth consecutive gold medal. Tatum previously won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

READ: NBA: Jayson Tatum reflects on how being a dad changed his life, career

News of Tatum’s deal came on the same day that fellow Celtics starter Derrick White reportedly agreed to a four-year, $126 million extension. All five of Boston’s starters –- Tatum, Brown, White, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis — were already under contract for next season. With Tatum and White’s new agreements they now all could be together through at least the 2025-26 season.

The deal also came on the heels of the Celtics ownership group, led by Wyc Grousbeck, announcing its plans to sell all of its shares by 2028.

Barring any significant roster changes, Boston is expected to have a combined payroll and luxury tax that will exceed $400 million when Tatum’s contract takes effect.



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76ers, Knicks make additions with eye on champion Celtics

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The Celtics were far and away the pride of the Eastern Conference, bulldozing their way to the franchise’s 18th NBA championship with a talented roster built around perimeter scoring and lockdown defense.

The race to prevent Boston from becoming the first team since the 2018 Golden State Warriors to repeat as champs began with the draft Wednesday night. While it was just the start of what figures to be an active offseason around the league, Day 1 made it clear that some of the Celtics’ top chasers next season may come from their own division.

Two of those teams — the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers — both made picks with an eye toward competing sooner rather than later.

LIST: 2024 NBA Rookie Draft first round picks

Philadelphia entered the offseason with basically a blank slate and lots of salary cap room to build out a roster around stars Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. The 76ers began that process by picking up a shooter in former Duke guard Jared McCain.

Even before draft night opened, the Knicks were one of the NBA’s most active teams, acquiring Mikal Bridges in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday. They followed that up Wednesday by signing OG Anunoby to a new contract worth more than $210 million, setting them up with two of the league’s top wing defenders to play alongside star Jalen Brunson.

Joining that mix will be a France’s Pacome Dadiet, a 3-and-D wing out of France.

The Nets were the only one of Boston’s Atlantic Division-mates without any first round picks.

Boston Celtics

Team needs: Depth. Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens made it clear earlier in the week that any player selected during the draft would have a difficult time cracking their current rotation. It’s a great position to be in for a team expected to spend the balance of the offseason simply tweaking the bottom of its roster

Who did the Celtics draft: Creighton G Baylor Scheierman. A lefty with great range from the outside, he scored more than 2,000 points in college. He won’t wow you with his athleticism and his ability to improve defensively will dictate how well he translates to the next level.

Player comparison: Orlando Magic F Joe Ingles.

New York Knicks

Pacome Dadiet, right, poses for a photo with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected 25th by the New York Knicks during the first round of the NBA basketball draft, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Team needs: Not much from the draft, after agreeing to a deal to acquire Bridges from the Nets and getting Anunoby to agree on his long-term pact to stay in New York in the 24 hours beforehand.

READ: NBA: Knicks to acquire Mikal Bridges in trade from Nets

Who did the Knicks draft: France F Pacome Dadiet. The final of four French players selected in a historic night for the country, Dadiet is just 18 years old with a lot of room to develop. He’s good with the ball in his hands and has a multitude of ways to attack defenses.

Player comparison: Maybe someday Anunoby or Bridges, with an ability to guard multiple wing positions. But the Knicks have the real things now so may not even bring him over from France this season.

Philadelphia 76ers

Jared McCain NBA Draft Philadelphia 76ers

Jared McCain poses for a photo with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected 16th by the Philadelphia 76ers during the first round of the NBA basketball draft, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Team needs: Just about everything. Almost the entire team — players such as Kelly Oubre Jr., Kyle Lowry and Nic Batum — ended the season with an expired contract. Team president Daryl Morey has about $65 million in salary cap space, a max contract topping $200 million to offer Maxey and plenty of questions to solve on how to finally, truly build an NBA championship contender around Embiid.

Who did the 76ers draft: McCain. One-and-done player who rapidly became the Blue Devils’ toughest competitor. Made 41% of 3s and 89% of free throws. Had two 30-point showings in the NCAA Tournament. He had two 30-point games in the NCAA Tournament to lead Duke to the Elite Eight.

Player comparison: Knicks G Jalen Brunson. McCain is roughly the same size and the Knicks All-Star and enters the league about two years younger than the former Villanova star when he was drafted.

Toronto Raptors

Team needs: Any promising player to line up alongside newly-extended All-Star forward Scottie Barnes on a talent-starved squad that traded away Anunoby and Pascal Siakam last season before slumping to a 25-57 finish and missing the play-in tournament.

Who did the Raptors draft: With the first-round pick it acquired in the Siakam trade, Toronto drafted 6-foot-4 Baylor guard Ja’Kobe Walter. Baylor’s top scorer in his lone season with the Bears, the 19-year-old Walter was also named Big 12 Freshman of the Year after averaging 14.5 points and 4.4 rebounds.



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Player comparison: A promising shooter, determined driver and aggressive rebounder, Walter is also considered a versatile defender. With that mix of qualities, he’s comparable to Clippers guard Terance Mann.

Celtics’ Brad Stevens expects only roster tweaks in repeat bid

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Confetti falls from the sky after Boston Celtics 106-88 win against the Dallas Mavericks in Game Five of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden on June 17, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. Adam Glanzman/Getty Images/AFP

BOSTON — The past week has been a whirlwind for Brad Stevens since the Celtics reached the goal he’s been chasing since he arrived in Boston in 2013.

He’s gone from coach to president of basketball operations during that time, experiencing all the failures and near misses it took to finally earn the franchise’s 18th championship.

It’s also why he’s not allowing himself to get caught up in the expectations that already hover around the Celtics to do it again next season.

“The adulation doesn’t mean much in all sincerity. And the scrutiny doesn’t mean much either,” Stevens said Tuesday. “If you hang a banner everybody is going to talk about how great you are. And if you don’t, they’re going to talk about how much you stink. … If you tie your approach to that, then you’re just going to ride a roller coaster that’s not worth the journey. So, I think the most important thing is you appreciate the people you’re with, you try your best to have the best season you can. And you just keep going.”

READ: Celtics look to become first repeat NBA champion since 2018

The good news for Stevens is that the Celtics are positioned well to be very much in the mix to defend their title next season. Their top six players — Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford — are under contract for next season.

After having secured long-term extensions with Brown, Holiday and Porzingis, the Celtics are expected to do the same with Tatum and White this summer.

It’s why Stevens isn’t anticipating any major changes this offseason.

The Celtics hold the 30th and 54th overall picks in this week’s draft, but he said any player they select will be with an eye toward the future, not the present.

READ: NBA: Brown, Tatum answer critics while leading Celtics to title

“I think there’s a lot of moving parts to keeping this roster sustainable beyond this year. But specifically to this year, we’ve got a lot of guys back,” Stevens said. “It will be hard for any draft pick to crack our rotation when healthy. So we’ll think about how we can continue to invest in young players and their development and growth, with the reality that if we’re able to continue to move forward with this group — these guys are going to be on the court.”

Keeping the current core of this group intact will put the Celtics into the second apron of the luxury tax for a second straight year, but the biggest ramifications of that won’t need to be addressed until after next season.

While Stevens expects winning the title to put a target squarely on their backs next season, he bristles at the notion that the Celtics will be clear-cut favorites.

“I don’t know what the league’s going to look like in three weeks, so who knows?” Stevens said. “But I know this. Human nature is going to be another huge opponent. All of our opponents — when you win — the other 29 teams target you. It’s a different thing to come back from to then be great again.”

What this group has earned though, he said, is the opportunity to come back together to take on that challenge.

“We’ll always evaluate how to make our team better,” Stevens said. “But I think we would be crazy not to say that character and the foundation of this team is right. And let’s see if we can be as consistent as we can. Grow. Develop. Get better. Improve. … I’m not anticipating major changes, at least early on. Because I think this team deserves that.”

PORZINGIS UPDATE

Stevens said Porzingis is still being evaluated for the next steps on how to proceed to repair the dislocated tendon in his left ankle that he injured in the NBA Finals.



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“Kristaps is still in the middle of consulting with some different doctors and specialists. We anticipate surgery will be soon. We’ll have more of a timeline and recovery after the surgery,” Stevens said.

Boston salutes Celtics’ record 18th NBA championship with parade

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Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum celebrates the team’s NBA basketball championship during a duck boat parade Friday, June 21, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

BOSTON — The Celtics entered the season vowing to turn recent playoff heartbreaks into happiness.

Eight months later, they toasted the franchise’s 18th NBA championship in what has become the signature Boston celebration, joined Friday by a huge crowd for a duck boat parade to mark the 13th championship won this century by one of the city’s franchises in the four biggest U.S. sports leagues.

The Celtics, Patriots, Red Sox and Bruins have all commemorated championships by jumping aboard the duck boats — amphibious vehicles usually ridden by sightseeing tourists.

In Boston, firing up the boats for a slow cruise down city streets has become synonymous with its feeling of sports supremacy. Friday’s parade was the latest component of what has been a rolling salute to the Celtics since they finished off the Dallas Mavericks in five games in the NBA Finals on Monday night.

Starting at TD Garden, the procession lasted about 90 minutes, turning first onto Causeway Street in front of the arena, past City Hall, through Boston Common, down Boylston Street and ending at Hynes Convention Center.

READ: Celtics look to become first repeat NBA champion since 2008

Along the way, there were plenty of moments for the city to salute a franchise that just broke a tie with the rival Los Angeles Lakers for the most titles in league history. Fans marked the moment by hanging on light posts, flashing homemade signs or standing on subway entrances.

“It’s unbelievable. It still doesn’t seem true. But just trying to stay in the moment,” All-Star Jayson Tatum said during a pre-parade rally at the Garden.

Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck gave fans an early treat about 90 minutes before the trade began.

He was attempting to drive to the arena with the Larry O’Brien Trophy and newly made 2024 championship banner along with his wife, Emilia Fazzalari, and their daughter.

They couldn’t get through because of traffic and barricades. So they walked a half-mile down Causeway Street, passing by a sea of fans while carrying the trophy and banner.

Inside the Garden, the rally included players and their family members, members of the Celtics organization, arena staff, season ticket holders and guests including Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

After celebrating in the locker room Monday night by spraying Champagne and posing for pictures with the trophy, the team flew to Miami for a private party.

When the Celtics returned Wednesday, coach Joe Mazzulla took the party back to people, allowing fans to see the trophy up close — and in some cases touch it — while he carried it through Boston’s famed North End.

“I drove all the way from Ohio (Wednesday) because we were coming for the parade,” Celtics fan Jason Hawkins told Boston’s ABC affiliate, WCVB-TV. “I touched trophy, man. I got video of it.”

The golden basketball was on display for all to see Friday as players, flanked by Celtics personnel and members of their families, waved and interacted with fans.

The Celtics broke every huddle this season by saying, “Together.”

Jaylen Brown said Friday the theme for this year’s team was unity.

“Whatever it took for us to win, that’s what I was willing to do,” Brown said.

As much as the day was a celebration of that team-first mantra that Mazzulla championed this season, it was also the culmination of mission that stars Brown and Tatum began after each was drafted third overall — Brown in 2016 and Tatum a year later.

The duo made it to four conference finals and one NBA Finals — a loss to the Golden State Warriors in 2022 — before finally reaching the league pinnacle. Brown earned Finals MVP honors, which he said also belonged to his “partner in crime.”

While the city had to wait nearly two decades for this celebration, the Celtics are in a solid position to try to become the NBA’s first back-to-back champions since the Warriors in 2018.

All five starters — Tatum, Brown, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Kristaps Porzingis — are under contract for next season. After having secured long-term extensions with Brown, Holiday and Porzingis, the Celtics are expected to do the same with Tatum and White this summer.



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Reserve Luke Kornet didn’t let fans forget the Celtics’ history of titles, leading fans on a count from one to 18 at the end of the parade route.

Their message to the city is clear: Keep the duck boats gassed up.

Brown, Tatum answer critics while leading Celtics to title

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Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum (0) hugs Jaylen Brown during the second half in Game 5 of the NBA Basketball Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

BOSTON — In 2008, the Celtics ended a 22-year NBA championship drought led by a Big 3.

Sixteen years later, they did it again following the play of a dynamic duo.

When Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were drafted third overall in back-to-back years in 2016 and 2017, they were almost instantly branded with the hopes of a franchise that was desperately chasing its elusive 18th championship.

Along the way they’ve endured criticism about their individual play and questions about whether two players with similar skill sets could co-exist.

They answered those questions emphatically on Monday night, leading to Celtics to a 106-88 Game 5 NBA Finals victory over the Dallas Mavericks to capture the franchise’s 18th championship, setting it alone among NBA champions.

READ: Celtics rout Mavericks to win record 18th NBA championship

“Getting drafted, that’s something that you dream about. But this is at the top of the mountain,” Tatum said afterward. “To be able to say we did it, that we came together and we won a championship. Banner No. 18 has been hanging over our head for so many years. To know that we’re going to be engraved in history, and it still hasn’t like registered. I’m just still trying to process it all.”

Tatum and Brown grasped their first Larry O’Brien Trophy after 107 playoff games together, the most for any duo before winning a title.

It took longer than expected, but Tatum said it was part of a process he didn’t fully understand until celebrating postgame.

“Coming up short and having failures makes this moment that much better,” he said. “Because you know what it feels like to lose. You know what it feels like to be on the other side of this and be in the locker room and hearing the other team celebrating, hearing them celebrate on your home floor. That was devastating.”

Tatum finished with 31 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds in Monday’s win. It is the third-most points scored by a Celtics player in a Finals clincher behind only John Havlicek (40 vs. Lakers, 1968) and Tommy Heinsohn (37 vs. Hawks, 1957).

Brown had 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists. But he earned Finals MVP honor on the heels of a 30-point performance in Game 3 that gave the Celtics a 3-0 lead.

READ: Jaylen Brown is Finals MVP as Celtics clinch historic NBA title

“It could have gone to Jayson,” Brown said of the MVP award. “Jayson, I can’t talk enough about his selflessness. I can’t talk enough about his attitude. It’s just how he approached not just this series or the Finals but just the playoffs in general. And we did it together as a team, and that was the most important thing.”

Brown and Tatum’s journey has included five trips to at least the conference finals together, as well as a 2022 loss in the Finals to the Golden State Warriors in a series that saw Boston relinquish a 2-1 lead.

Still, Celtics ownership continued to build around them, even through shakeups that included failed free agency acquisitions of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, as well as changes to the core of the ’22 Finals teams that included trading longtime veteran Marcus Smart and former NBA Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon.

It only intensified the microscope under Brown and Tatum, said veteran Al Horford, who has played alongside them for six of his 17 years in the NBA.

READ: NBA: Jayson Tatum says past pain inspired Boston Celtics

He’s in awe of the maturity they’ve displayed at 27 and 26 years old, respectively.

“Those two guys continue to take steps forward. People all year criticizing them, all that expectation, all the pressure,” Horford said. “They did it. And they’ve done it at a young age. They led our group. I’m just very proud of those guys and to put everything aside and focus on winning.”

Brown said he’s most proud of how he and Tatum have grown together over the past seven seasons together.



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“We’ve been through a lot, the losses, the expectations,” Brown said. “The media have said all different types of things: We can’t play together, we are never going to win. We 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.”

Celtics look to become first repeat NBA champion since 2018

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Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, center, holds the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy as he celebrates with center Kristaps Porzingis, left, and guard Jaylen Brown, right, after the Celtics won the NBA championship with a Game 5 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

BOSTON — It took more than a decade, savvy front office and draft moves, and some free agency luck for the Celtics to ultimately build the roster that brought an end to their 16-year NBA championship drought.

But with NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown already locked up long-term and fellow All-Star Jayson Tatum set to join him in the $300 million club this summer, Boston doesn’t have nearly as much work to do this offseason to keep together a core that is set up to become the first team since the 2018 Golden State Warriors to repeat as champions.

In the euphoria of locking up the franchise’s record-breaking 18th championship, Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck gave president of basketball operations Brad Stevens a shoutout for finishing a process that began when Stevens was originally hired as Boston’s coach in 2013.

“We all watched the team the last few years. Great teams, but not quite there,” Grousbeck said. “And Brad was brilliant. We knew we needed to make changes … and he got it done.”

Moving away from longtime executive Danny Ainge — the architect of Boston’s 2008 championship Big 3 of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen — in favor of the 44-year-old Stevens was bold. Now, just three years after being pulled off the sideline, Stevens has made good on the belief that ownership had in him.

READ: NBA: Brown, Tatum answer critics while leading Celtics to title

He did it by taking the war chest of draft picks Ainge left him and borrowing from the aggressiveness his predecessor was known for to immediately go to work.

It started coyly with a February 2022 trade deadline acquisition of Derrick White, a young defensive-minded reserve with San Antonio.

Then, following the loss to the Warriors in the Finals, he steered the team through the suspension and ultimate departure of coach Ime Udoka for having an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the organization.

Facing a franchise-altering moment, Stevens leaned on his gut, elevating back bench assistant Joe Mazzulla to the top job.

Then, after a conference finals loss to Miami last season, he did what was originally unthinkable by trading veteran leader Marcus Smart and reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon in separate deals that brought in 7-footer Kristaps Porzingis and defensive stalwart Jrue Holiday.

The pair turned out to be the missing links for a team that, including the playoffs, finished 80-21 this season, placing it second in team history behind only the Celtics’ 1985-86 championship team that finished 82-18.

READ: NBA: Jayson Tatum says past pain inspired Boston Celtics

It also marks the first time in seven seasons the team with the best record during the regular season went on to win the title.

Most importantly, Boston is set up to keep the current core intact for the foreseeable future.

Brown is already locked up through 2029. Tatum is eligible to sign a five-year supermax extension this summer that will be worth a record $315 million and run through 2031. White, who is set to be a free agent in 2025, can ink a four-year deal worth about $125 million this offseason.

The remaining returning starters, Holiday and Porzingis, have already been extended through 2028 and 2026, respectively.

While some tough, luxury tax decisions could be looming in a few seasons, it’s a team constructed to win now.

Brown said it’s left everyone poised to defend their title next season and beyond.



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“I think we have an opportunity. I think we definitely have a window,” he said. “We take it one day at a time. We definitely have to make sure we stay healthy. But, we’ll enjoy the summer, enjoy the moment, and then we get right back to it next year.”

Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla goes from Division 2 coach to NBA champion

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Head coach Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics yells while lifting the Larry O’ Brien Championship Trophy after Boston’s 106-88 win against the Dallas Mavericks in Game Five of the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden on June 17, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. Elsa/Getty Images/AFP

Joe Mazzulla has been called weird. He’s been called a sicko. He’s been called crazy.

Those comments weren’t coming from critics or haters directing anonymous insults toward the NBA coach of the Boston Celtics. They came publicly from his own players who, by all accounts, absolutely adore him. And they are meant with all possible respect, especially now that those players — and everyone else — must call Mazzulla something else.

A champion.

A 35-year-old whose only head coaching experience before taking over the Celtics in the fall of 2022 was at the NCAA Division II level is now the leader of the best team in the NBA world. Boston wrapped up the NBA title on Monday night, beating the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 to finish off a five-game roll through the finals and secure the team’s record 18th championship.

“There’s nothing better than representing the Celtics,” Mazzulla said, “and being part of history.”

READ: Celtics rout Mavericks to win record 18th NBA championship

Including playoffs, Mazzulla’s record is now 148-54 — a .729 winning percentage. Among all coaches with at least 200 games in the NBA, nobody has a better record than that.

And when it was over, yes, the famously stoic Mazzulla smiled.

“The thing you just can’t take for granted in the game today is a coach’s greatest gift is a group of guys that want to be coached, want to be led, that also empower themselves,” Mazzulla said earlier in the series. “So, I think at the end of the day, just appreciate the fact that we have an environment where learning and coaching is important, and getting better and developing is important. You can’t be a good coach if your players don’t let you.”

He’s the 37th coach in NBA history to win a title and the seventh to do so from the Celtics’ bench, joining Red Auerbach, Bill Russell, Tom Heinsohn, Bill Fitch, K.C. Jones and Doc Rivers.

And there are other names the Celtics call him, too. Like genius, for example. Mazzulla doesn’t hide his Christian faith, talks about three of his loves beyond family being Jesus, coffee and jiu-jitsu, is obsessed with things like international soccer, and in his spare time leads teams to NBA titles.

“He’s really himself. He’s like authentic to himself. We all appreciate that,” Celtics guard Payton Pritchard said. “He’s not trying to be somebody he’s not. So, I think that’s kind of like the sicko side of it. He’s different, but we respect that. Then the basketball genius, you can learn a lot from him as to how he sees the offensive side of things, the play calling, the game management, all that. He’s elite in that. I’ve personally learned a lot from him, and I think our whole group has.”

READ: Celtics follow ‘craziness’ of Mazzulla’s coaching style to NBA Finals

Alex Cora, the manager of the Boston Red Sox, makes no secret that he believes the Celtics are going to be enjoying success for a while. He’s close with Brad Stevens, the front office mastermind of the team, and has gotten to know Mazzulla somewhat well since he took over as coach. The respect he has for Mazzulla is clear.

It’s not like Mazzulla struggled in Year 1 after being shoved into the job unexpectedly following the scandal that led to the Celtics parting ways with Ime Udoka; the Celtics did make Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals last season. Cora just thinks things were more suited to Mazzulla’s needs in Year 2, such as bringing in assistants like Charles Lee (the next coach of the Charlotte Hornets) and Sam Cassell.

“I do believe that with everything that they went through, with the head coaching part of it, and Joe last year being the head coach but not having his staff, I think it was kind of like an obstacle for him,” Cora told reporters before a Red Sox game last week. “But he got the right people, they got the right coach.”

Mazzulla’s path to the NBA mountaintop could easily be described as non-traditional, and not just for the circumstances under which he got the job as Udoka’s replacement.

Mazzulla’s only previous experience as a head coach before taking over the Celtics was a two-year stint at Fairmont State in West Virginia, where he went 43-17 and made the NCAA Tournament in his second season. A native New Englander from Rhode Island, Mazzulla played at West Virginia, was an assistant for the Celtics’ G League team before taking over at Fairmont State, and then got hired by the Celtics again in June 2019 to be part of Stevens’ coaching staff.

They’re a lot alike, Mazzulla and Stevens. They don’t waste words. They don’t seek the spotlight. Asking them a question about themselves is almost certainly not going to get any sort of peel-back-the-curtain answer. It’s not about them. It’s just about wins.

“When Joe won coach of the month, I was like, ‘Hey, congratulations,’” Celtics guard Derrick White said. “And he just looked at me and said, ‘Nobody cares.’”

The closest Mazzulla likely came to getting a head-coaching gig in the NBA before getting promoted by Boston was in 2022, when he interviewed with the Utah Jazz. The Jazz hired Will Hardy, and Mazzulla said they made the right decision. But when he looked back at that process, Mazzulla hated one part of his interview.

He wore a suit. “They’re useless,” he said.

To be clear, that wasn’t where Mazzulla thinks he blew that interview. The Jazz asked him a fairly standard question. Paraphrasing, they wanted to know how Mazzulla, as a young coach — actually younger than some NBA players — felt he was ready to lead a team.



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He didn’t have a great answer. But now, nobody will have to ask him that question again. Mazzulla answered it Monday night once and for all. He can lead a team to the top of the NBA world. The Celtics’ 18th banner will be raised this fall, and that’s more than enough for him.

“You get very few chances in life to be great and you get very few chances in life to carry on the ownership and the responsibility of what these banners are, and all the great people, all the great players that came here,” Mazzulla said. “When you have few chances in life, you just have to take the bull by the horns and you’ve got to just own it. And our guys owned it.”

Jaylen Brown is Finals MVP as Celtics clinch historic NBA title

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Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown, center, raises the MVP trophy after defeating the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the NBA basketball finals, Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Jaylen Brown was named NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Monday as his Boston Celtics polished off the Dallas Mavericks four games to one to earn a record 18th championship.

“It was a full team effort,” Brown said as he accepted the Finals MVP trophy named for Celtics legend Bill Russell.

The 27-year-old averaged 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists in five Finals games and delivered a strong defensive effort against Dallas star Luka Doncic, the regular-season scoring leader.

READ: Celtics rout Mavericks to win record 18th NBA championship

“I share this with my brothers and my partner in crime Jayson Tatum — he was with me the whole way so we share this together,” Brown said.

The Celtics claimed their first title since 2008. They had reached the finals in 2022 only to come up short against the Golden State Warriors and last season they agonizingly failed to get back to the championship series, falling to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals.

On a mission this season, the Celtics won a league-leading 64 regular-season games.

They swept the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals — Brown earning MVP honors in that series, too.

READ: Celtics will win NBA title if Tatum, Brown focus on details, not emotions

Brown, in the first year of a mammoth five-year, $286 million contract extension with the Celtics, earned his third All-Star nod, but it was Tatum, not Brown, most often pointed to as the team’s top star.

Snubbed for All-NBA honors and by selectors for the US Olympic basketball team for Paris, Brown now has the honor he really craved — an NBA title — and the Finals MVP to go with it.

Brown, who was taken third overall in the 2016 draft, shared a long, heartfelt embrace with Tatum as the final moments of the 106-88 clinching victory ticked off.



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Brown said he’d left doubts from previous playoff misses go this season.

“I never hung my head,” he said.

Jayson Tatum says past pain inspired Boston Celtics

On: By: admin


Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics celebrates during the closing seconds of the fourth quarter of Game Five of the 2024 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks at TD Garden on June 17, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. Elsa/Getty Images/AFP

Jayson Tatum said the bitter sting of past postseason defeats powered the Boston Celtics to their record-breaking 18th NBA championship on Monday against the Dallas Mavericks.

The 26-year-old Celtics star produced a masterful 31-point performance as Boston completed a 4-1 series triumph with a resounding 106-88 victory.

The win couldn’t have been sweeter for Tatum, who just over a year ago was being derided as a playoff “choker” after the Celtics suffered a traumatic game seven home court defeat to Miami in the Eastern Conference finals.

That shattering loss came a year after the Celtics had lost 4-2 to Golden State in the NBA Finals, with the Warriors clinching the series on Boston’s home court.

Tatum said those back-to-back defeats had left Boston with a “relentless” desire to finally close out a championship.

READ: Celtics rout Mavericks to win record 18th NBA championship

“It took being on the other side of this and losing in the Finals and being at literally the lowest point in a basketball career that you could be, to next year, to the following year, thinking that was going to be the time, and come up short again,” Tatum said.

“Coming up short and having failures makes this moment that much better. Because you know what it feels like to lose.

“You know what it feels like to be on the other side of this and be in the locker room and hearing the other team celebrating, hearing them celebrate on your home floor.

“That was devastating.”

Tatum though was all smiles on Monday after finally entering the NBA’s winner’s circle.

“It’s a hell of a feeling,” Tatum said. “I dreamed about what it would be like, but this is 10 times better.”

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, who at 35 is the youngest head coach to win an NBA crown since Bill Russell in 1968 at the age of 34, said past disappointments had forged a determination to succeed amongst his players.

READ: Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla goes from Division 2 coach to NBA champion

“It really starts with them,” Mazzulla said. “You can’t have a philosophy or a way of playing if you don’t have a group of guys that are willing to buy into it and be disciplined.

“Quite honestly, this group of guys has been through so much in the league, they know what it takes.”

The Celtics win was also a personal triumph for Mazzulla, who was thrust into the head coaching role in the 2022-2023 season after the abrupt departure of predecessor Ime Udoka due to a sex scandal.

After last year’s playoff flop against Miami, several pundits called for Mazzulla to be fired.

The Boston coach however maintained that taking disappointment in his stride had been part of his and the Celtics success.



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“I think just having an understanding that praise and criticism are both just as dangerous,” Mazzulla said. “If you don’t handle them well, and I think we talked about that as a team this year, like winning is just as dangerous as losing if you don’t handle it well.

“I think our guys handled winning the right way by, whether we won or lost, we just moved on to the next game.”