BOSTON -- Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown stood strong at the forefront of the selfless mindset the Celtics promoted throughout their NBA-best season, and that didn't change once the NBA Finals commenced, either.
Going up against the Mavericks, the outside narratives rained down on Tatum and Brown, generating a copy-and-paste discourse that repeated the same talking points they've heard for years now.
Could they win together? Who is truly the best player on the team? If unable to defeat Dallas, should we revisit separation talks? Again, nothing new, but Boston's title-clinching Game 5 victory did prove one thing regarding the All-Star duo: Tatum and Brown's brotherhood is stronger than ever.
"First of all, congrats to him," Tatum said after Brown was named Finals MVP. "Well-deserved. Extremely happy for him. This is a hell of an accomplishment. The main goal for us was to win a championship. We weren't -- we didn't care who got Finals MVP. I know that I need him through this journey and he needs me."
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Tatum added: "I'm extremely happy for him. Well-deserved. That was big-time. He earned that."
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Nobody was aiming to win MVP of the series, and that was evident from the start. In Game 1, Kristaps Porzingis shined by scoring 20 points in his return from a near-40-day postseason absence. In Game 2, Jrue Holiday played the role of an experienced champion by notching a 26-point, 11-rebound double-double to ensure Boston would fly to Dallas with a 2-0 lead.
While putting the Mavericks away with a 106-88 win, the contributions were widespread. From Derrick White's defense to Payton Pritchard's electric half-court buzzer-beater, the Celtics finished their season the way they opened it up: playing with a team-first mindset above all else.
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Brown scored 21 points with eight rebounds, six assists and two steals after playing 44 minutes in the series-decider on Monday night. He averaged 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and five assists against the Mavericks, most importantly keeping Boston's offense composed throughout the five-game journey.
Once the dust settled and the green and white confetti landed on the TD Garden parquet, someone needed to hoist the Bill Russell trophy, and as Brown mentioned, it wasn't a runaway campaign.
"You know, it could have gone to anybody," Brown explained. "It could have gone to Jayson. Jayson, like I can't talk enough about his selflessness. You know, 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."
Regardless of who took home the Bill Russell Trophy, the 2024 Celtics will be remembered as the Tatum-Brown-led team that established its place in the organization's all-time history books. That'll forever be set and stone.
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Featured image via Peter Casey/USA TODAY Sports Images
