After years of disappointment and disappointment in the playoffs, the Celtics swept the league last season, winning 64 games in the regular season before easily advancing in the playoffs, going 16-3 to claim the team’s first title. the organization since 2008.
BOSTON — 16 years passed, but the Boston Celtics officially raised the banner number 18 in the beams of the TD Garden Tuesday night, as the franchise celebrated its record 18th NBA championship last June before its season opener against Atlantic Division rivals the New York Knicksin the first game of the 2024-25 NBA season.
“I can honestly tell the best fans in the world,” he said Jayson Tatum with a smile, “let’s do it again.”
After years of disappointment and disappointment in the playoffs, Boston swept the league last season, winning 64 games in the regular season before easily advancing in the playoffs, going 16-3 to claim the league’s first title. organization since 2008.
And, after listing the team’s accomplishments, including a 37-4 home record in the regular season, to the delight of the sold-out crowd, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck smiled and said they were ” pretty good.”
“In a storied history that includes 23 retired jerseys,” the NBA commissioner said, Adam Silver“Now, this special Celtics team is creating a history of its own as it enters the 79th NBA season.”
As part of that celebrated history of the Celtics franchise, several legends from the team’s past were present, from Bob Cousywhich won six of those titles in the NBA’s first few seasons; to Cedric Maxwellwhich won an award for NBA Finals Most Valuable Player and a couple of titles; to the pillars of the last team that won a title here: Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett y Paul Piercetogether again and now celebrating being the penultimate Celtics team to win a trophy.
The crowd exploded at times during coach and player introductions, specifically for former coach and current president of basketball operations Brad Stevens; current coach Joe Mazzulla, who kissed the ground as he went out to get his ring from Silver; Kristaps Porzingis, who will be out for at least the next few months recovering from offseason ankle surgery; and both Jaylen Brown and Tatum, the two stars of the team who were introduced last.
Then, with the rings handed out, the team focused on the task at hand: an anticipated showdown with New York, a team hoping to do this season what the Celtics did last year, and spent the summer acquiring a couple of big names in Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns in an effort to do just that.
“I mean, whenever a team wins the championship, everyone looks at how they did it and what their personnel was and what their scheme was and everything,” Brunson said Tuesday morning after the Knicks held their morning practice here at the TD Garden. “And so, I don’t want to speak for the rest of the league, but a lot of people saw how successful they were with their offense and their five-out and their schemes and everything else. And so, it may not be a carbon copy, but “Everyone will want to adapt to the new ways of playing basketball every time someone wins like that.”
