BOSTON — It took 16 years, however the Boston Celtics formally raised banner No. 18 to the TD Backyard rafters Tuesday evening, because the franchise celebrated its record-setting 18th NBA championship forward of their season opener in opposition to their Atlantic Division rivals, the New York Knicks, within the first recreation of the 2024-25 NBA season.
“I can actually say, to one of the best followers on the planet,” Jayson Tatum stated with a smile, “let’s do it once more.”
After years of playoff disappointment and heartbreak, Boston tore by means of the league final season, successful 64 video games within the common season earlier than cruising by means of the playoffs with ease, going 16-3 to say the group’s first title since 2008.
And, after rattling off the crew’s accomplishments, together with going 37-4 at dwelling within the common season, a lot to the delight of the sellout crowd, Celtics proprietor Wyc Grousbeck smiled and stated that they had been, “Fairly rattling good.”
“In a storied historical past that features 23 retired jerseys,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver stated, “now, this particular Celtics crew is making a historical past of its personal as we enter the 79th season of the NBA.”
As a part of that celebrated historical past of the Celtics franchise, a number of legends from the crew’s previous had been readily available — from Bob Cousy, who received six of these titles within the NBA’s early seasons; to Cedric Maxwell, who received an NBA Finals MVP award and a pair of titles; to the anchors of the final crew to say a title right here: Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, collectively once more and celebrating being the second-to-last Celtics crew to win {hardware}.
The gang exploded on a number of events in the course of the introductions of the coaches and gamers — particularly for former coach and present president of basketball operations Brad Stevens; present coach Joe Mazzulla, who kissed the ground as he walked out to get his ring from Silver; Kristaps Porzingis, who’s out for at the least the following couple of months recovering from offseason ankle surgical procedure; and each Jaylen Brown and Tatum, the crew’s two stars and who had been launched final.
Then, with the rings handed out, the crew’s targeted shifted to the duty at hand: a highly-anticipated showdown with New York, a crew that’s hoping to do that season what the Celtics did final 12 months — and spent the summer time buying a pair of huge names in Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Cities in an effort to do exactly that.
“I imply, every time a crew wins the championship, everybody analyzes how they did it and what their personnel was and what their scheme was and every thing,” Brunson stated Tuesday morning after the Knicks held their morning shootaround right here at TD Backyard. “And so, I do not wanna converse for the remainder of the league, however lots of people noticed how profitable they had been with their offense and their 5 out and their schemes and no matter. And so, it might not be a carbon copy, however everybody will need to form of modify to the brand new methods of basketball each time somebody wins like that.”