Jayson Tatum Didn’t Expect Celtics To Meet Mavericks In NBA Finals

When it came down to earning a ticket to the NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics did their part last season, making easy work of the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference. But Jayson Tatum didn't expect to cross paths with the Dallas Mavericks in the winner-take-all showdown.

"People always ask me, when did you guys know you were going to win a championship?" Tatum said at the Maynard Fine Arts Theatre last Thursday, per Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. "When Minnesota beat Denver, I felt like Denver was the only team that they matched up best with us. I thought that we were going to play Denver in the Finals and it was going to be a good one."

Boston lost just three times in 19 total postseason contests, carrying a trend of never losing more than twice in a row from the regular season. The Celtics went an NBA-best 64-18 to seize the No. 1 seed in the East with ease, although two of those losses came courtesy of three-time MVP Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets. Seemingly, Denver had Boston's number as the only team to sweep the Celtics in their season series, posing the must-watch challenge for head coach Joe Mazzulla's squad. But of course, unlike the Celtics, the Nuggets failed to do their part and crumbled in the semifinals.

The Celtics knew that feeling all too well. Even before team president of basketball operations Brad Stevens went all in and acquired Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday to bolster Boston's already-elite roster, Tatum and Brown had endured seven postseason eliminations, including a Finals loss to Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in 2022. Stevens, watching from the front office's seat above, wasn't the only member of the organization to say enough was enough. Tatum and Brown ensured themselves, and the franchise that had done right by its homegrown duo, that 2023-24 wouldn't be a carbon copy of 2022-23 -- or any other previous failed season.

"We've gotten close a bunch of times," Tatum added, per Washburn, "We lost in the Finals. There's a lot of people that doubted us, and I remember thinking about, 'Man, when we win the championship, I can't wait to tell everybody that doubted us, that had something to say.' But you realize that moment that we won, when the confetti was falling and then the parade, it's not about the people that doubted you. It's about you guys, the guys that supported us along the way. Everybody that believed in us, and I can honestly say, the parade was the best two hours of my life."

Knowing what it's like to reach the mountaintop, Tatum and the Celtics will chase that same feeling of fulfillment starting on Oct. 22 when the organization hosts its championship banner night and officially turns the page to a clean slate.