The Celtics embrace each other after their Game 5 victory over the Mavericks. (0:38)
The Boston Celtics are NBA champions after defeating the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. With the victory, they clinched their 18th title, the most in NBA history.
The Celtics were led by Jayson Tatum with a 31-point, 11-assist and 8-rebound performance. Tatum led the Celtics in points, rebounds and assists in the playoffs, becoming the sixth player to lead a title-winning team in each of those categories for the postseason.
Jaylen Brown was named Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals, averaging 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.6 steals in the series. He is the first player to win NBA Finals MVP without making an All-NBA team that same season since Andre Iguodala in 2015.
Payton Pritchard made sure the Celtics had all of the momentum heading into halftime. The Boston guard hadn’t played the entire half, but head coach Joe Mazzulla inserted Pritchard into the game with four seconds left in the second quarter.
Pritchard immediately made an impact by swishing a 49-foot 3-pointer, the longest made shot in the Finals in the past 25 years. The shot put the Celtics up 67-46 going into halftime. It was Pritchard’s third buzzer-beating 3-pointer in the 2024 playoffs, the last one coming in Game 2 of the Finals to end the third quarter.
The deep 3-pointer prompted reaction from some of the sports world’s biggest names.
PRITCHARD
Bro i hate this dude 😂😂😂😂😂
pritchard legendary it’s stamped🤯
Buzzer beating shots are really Pritchard’s specialty that’s crazy😂
pritchard really be hitting that shot hahaha
The sports world chimed in on social media with reactions to the Celtics’ dominant playoff run.
Another one in Boston ☘️
BANNER 18!!!!
CONGRATS, @CELTICS 🏆 pic.twitter.com/bhRwaGhiYS
BANNER 18 ✅
Congrats, @celtics!!! pic.twitter.com/0qlD3fZcTh
1️⃣8️⃣
Congrats @celtics !! Y’all def deserve it!
NBA CHAMPION JT ‼️🏆💙🍀
🫡 @jaytatum0 💪#DukeintheNBA 😈 pic.twitter.com/EffpbhWb6p
JAYLEN BROWN, NBA CHAMPION! 🏆#GoBears x #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/Xa9qVQG9sx
𝐍𝐁𝐀 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐎𝐍, 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍.
𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 to @Jrue_Holiday11 of the Boston @Celtics on winning the 2024 NBA Finals‼️#NBABruins | #ChampionsMadeHere 🏀🏆 pic.twitter.com/S2a7lPqgsc
DERRICK WHITE. NBA CHAMPION. 🏆#GoBuffs | #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/CAsbOuWU4x
Al Horford, NBA CHAMP 🏆
Congrats to our guy @Al_Horford + the @celtics for getting that ring 💍#GoGators pic.twitter.com/idaWNRdpMx
NBA CHAMPION 🏆 pic.twitter.com/jiNtO8xpxb
Payton Pritchard, NBA Champion. #GoDucks x @paytonpritch3 pic.twitter.com/HmZHJCjNdZ
I hate that the Celtics officially have more championships than us now 🙄
We love you big Al
Happy for Al Horford!!
Great run @dallasmavs
Heads up!! We will be back!!!
ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.