Sixteen years in the past right this moment, the Celtics received their seventeenth NBA Championship.
Now it’s a record-breaking 18 after Boston cruised to a 106-88 win in Recreation 5 of the NBA Finals to assert the sequence 4-1 and one other title.
With it, the Celtics handed the Los Angeles Lakers, who they have been beforehand tied with for probably the most championships in NBA historical past.
Boston, who hit the second-most 3-pointers (1,351) in historical past in the course of the common season, lastly bought it going from deep to overwhelm Dallas.
That included a circus halfcourt buzzer beater from Payton Pritchard at halftime, which was the longest made shot within the Finals within the final 25 years in keeping with ESPN Stats and Data, and gave Boston a 67-46 lead coming into the third quarter.
The Celtics didn’t look again from that time as celebrity duo Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, who have been drafted in 2016 and 2017, lastly had their crowning second on basketball’s greatest stage.
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Brown, who was named Finals MVP, had 21 factors, eight rebounds and 6 assists whereas Tatum was closely concerned each as a scorer and playmaker, placing up 31 factors to go along with 11 assists.
It was heartbreak for Australian duo Josh Inexperienced and Dante Exum, though the pair can take solace within the reality they left all of it out on the courtroom, including much-needed vitality and taking pictures off the bench.
Inexperienced particularly was deadly from deep, making his first 4 3-point makes an attempt on his method to 14 factors whereas additionally providing his trademark hustle and exercise on each ends.
Neither workforce shot the ball notably effectively to open the sport, though the Mavericks particularly have been struggling to get something going early as they missed seven of their first eight pictures.
Fortuitously for them, Boston wasn’t notably environment friendly both however Jrue Vacation was feasting within the paint with the Celtics’ first three area targets earlier than Al Horford drained a 3-pointer for a 9-2 lead.
Doncic, having began the sport by lacking just a few deep 3-point makes an attempt, was extra aggressive out of the timeout as he drove in direction of the rim and drew a foul for the and-1 to cut back Boston’s buffer to 9-5.
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The Celtics have been rapidly in a position to prolong that again out to 13-5 earlier than Inexperienced made back-to-back 3-pointers as Doncic continued to work his approach into the paint, kicking it out on each events to the Australian who made Boston pay for its drop protection.
Exum additionally drained a 3-pointer late which had Dallas trailing 19-18 however a sloppy finish to the interval noticed Boston go on a 9-0 run to complete the quarter on high 28-18.
The Celtics confirmed no indicators of slowing all the way down to open the second, including two fast 3-pointers and making 5 of their first six area targets total to increase their result in 46-31.
At the same time as Inexperienced made it 3-for-3 from deep for Dallas, there was little he or Exum may do to cease a runaway Celtics workforce that simply wasn’t lacking as they pushed out to a 21-point lead by halftime.
That got here after a miraculous shot past halfcourt from Pritchard, who was mobbed by teammates as his buzzer beater put Boston up 67-46.
It was Pritchard’s solely three seconds on the courtroom in Recreation 5 however he made probably the most of it, like he did when he pulled up from the brand for a buzzer beater within the third quarter of Recreation 3.
That miraculous shot from Pritchard ended up being a dagger for Dallas, who by no means actually bought near difficult Boston because the Celtics went on to assert a complete victory.
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