2024 NBA Finals: Celtics’ newest champions now understand – ‘there’s nothing like winning in Boston’

BOSTON — As Al Horford was evaluating his future as a free agent in the summer of 2016, Celtics executive Danny Ainge told him, “You can win championships in a lot of places, but there’s nothing like winning in Boston.”

Eight years later, in his second stint with the Celtics, the 38-year-old Horford fulfilled that promise as the roster’s elder statesman, helping Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — the world-class talents he led to the biggest game in the game. stage – delivering a franchise-record 18th NBA championship.

“That’s stuck with me since that meeting,” said Horford, who contributed nine points and nine rebounds in the 106-88 victory over the Dallas Mavericks. “I was like, ‘Man, I’m trying to be great and that’s what I want.’ The fact that it happened, that it happened – JT, JB stepping up and leading us – is special.”

It was Ainge who traded Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, the last vestiges of Boston’s last championship, for a set of draft picks from the Brooklyn Nets in 2013. Two became Tatum and Brown. And it was Horford who served as seniors, leading each to the Eastern Conference finals in their rookie seasons.

“Al Horford is a legend and a real-life hero,” Brown said. “It’s been great being your teammate.”

All three, more than anyone else on this roster, are Celtics. Not just in the sense that they played in Boston. They’ve won here now. They are at the club. Their numbers will be removed from the rafters at TD Garden, next to the championship flag. Alongside Russell and Cousy, Havlicek and Cowens, Bird and McHale, will be Tatum and Brown. And make no mistake: there will be Horford too. He’s one of them now.

As the minutes ticked down after Boston’s decisive victory, 2008 Celtics champion Eddie House turned to this reporter and said, “Hey, Yahoo Sports, write this: That’s 18 of them now. You see it ” he said, pointing to 1981 NBA Finals MVP Cedric Maxwell, “and me,” he added, “and them,” pointing to the parquet floor, where Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla was removing its holders one by one from the game.

“We’re all champions,” House said.

This is what it means to be a member of the Celtics. All season, Boston’s rallying cry has been “DIFFERENT HERE,” and it is. There’s a brotherhood that spans the league’s history, replete with championship rings, and everyone on this year’s roster — from Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Kristaps Porziņģis to Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet and Oshae Brissett — became lifetime members.

None more so than Tatum and Brown, who are just scratching the surface of their legacies in Boston.

“We’ve been through a lot,” said Brown, who won Finals MVP over Tatum by a 7-4 vote. “We’ve been playing together for seven years now. We’ve been through a lot, the losses, the expectations. The media said all kinds of things: ‘We can’t play together. We’ll never win. .’ We heard everything, but we just blocked it out and carried on.

At ages 26 and 27, respectively, Tatum and Brown spoke as if this had been going on forever, even though they know it was longer for Horford. It seems like an eternity because of how much adversity his Celtics have faced – six Eastern Conference Finals in Brown’s eight seasons, five losses, including last year’s embarrassment against the Miami Heat, and a 2-1 Finals loss to Golden State Warriors in 2022.

“But all of these experiences have led to here,” Brown said. “All those moments where we fell short, felt like we let the city down, let ourselves down, that’s how we got to this moment. And that makes it feel even better that we have to go through the entire journey, the heartbreak, the embarrassment, the loss, getting to the top of the mountain is great and shout out to all the supporters and the city of Boston.

Those defeats take on a different light now that they have won. The criticisms are gone. After all these missed opportunities, dwindling opportunities that left everyone wondering if they were cut out for this, if Tatum and Brown could co-exist, no one can take that title away. They were built for this. They are coexisting – like champions.

Now we’re left wondering what’s left they can accomplish. Now we look back at all those playoff losses and see the scars of the playoffs healed. Now, we look at everything they’ve done — 235 playoff games between them, more than anyone their age — and we should recognize their increased Hall of Fame resumes. Now, they are surpassing the Celtics records held by legends, and you have to accept that they belong to them.

“They get scrutinized a lot and they get a lot of pressure for not winning or not getting to the Eastern Conference finals. [six times in eight years], or even getting to the finals and not getting over that hurdle,” said Holiday. “I feel like people finally see the relationship they have. They see that from the beginning they have always done this together. They never compared. They were always cheerful and happy for each other. … I hope this takes a burden off your shoulders.

“But another burden is doing it again.”

The only discussion about legacy now is how much these Celtics can add. The playoff rotation is signed until next season, and it will be difficult for any of them to leave Boston now that they will never have to buy another drink in the city again. The only question is whether they can add more banners to the rafters.

“You had to be relentless,” Tatum said. “It took being on the other side of that and losing in the Finals and being literally at the lowest point of a basketball career that you could be, the next year, the year after that, thinking it was time, and coming up short again. People have said this before, but falling short and having failures makes this moment so much better. Because you know what it’s like to lose. being in the locker room and hearing the other team celebrating, hearing them celebrate at their home. This was devastating.

“And now, to elevate yourself in a space where all your favorite players are, everyone they consider great or legend has won a championship, and all the guys I looked up to have won a championship — multiple championships. , like, walking into these rooms and being a part of this, it’s such a feeling,” he said, pausing, “I dreamed of what it would be like, but this is 10 times better.”

This one is forever. The next? This city expects it. That’s the way it is here, and no one understands that better than Horford and the two rising legends he’s mentored thus far. They’re Bostonians now.