Celtics cap off historic season with Banner 18

Jayson Tatum drops 31 points and 11 assists, Jaylen Brown has a near double-double of 21 points and 8 rebounds as Boston overwhelmed the Mavericks to win an NBA-record 18th championship.

And here are your 2024 NBA Champions, the Boston Celtics. Photo by A. Sherrod Blakely

BOSTON — For most of Jayson Tatum’s time as a Boston Celtic, he has gone about rewriting the record book for a player so young.

He could do it all, it seemed.

Score. Rebound. Defend. Pass.

He was well on his way to finding a place among the all-time great Celtics, statistically speaking.

Around here, stats have value.

But the true currency of greatness revolves around chips; as in, championships.

And for all the All-NBA teams and super-max contracts Tatum compiles, he knows he will never get to walk on the hallowed ground laid out by the all-time great Celtics until he raises Banner 18.

Run, young man, Run.

Tatum’s basketball journey has plenty of chapters left to be written.

But the narrative has a much different ethos now that he has achieved the one goal that truly matters in this town - winning an NBA title.

And he did so in emphatic fashion by leading Boston to a 106-88 Game 5 win over the Dallas Mavericks, closing out the Finals and just as important, opening a plethora of possibilities for the newly crowned NBA champions.