Jayson Tatum delivered a dazzling 31-point performance as the Boston Celtics crushed the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 on Monday, clinching a record-breaking 18th NBA championship. After a humbling 38-point defeat in Game 4, Boston rebounded with a commanding display, sealing a 4-1 series victory at an electrifying TD Garden. Tatum led the charge, excelling on both ends of the court, as the Celtics surged past their archrival Los Angeles Lakers to stand alone with 18 NBA titles.
The emphatic win came 16 years to the day after Boston's last NBA Finals win – over the Lakers – in 2008. "Oh my God. It's a surreal feeling.
We did it," a jubilant Tatum exclaimed after the triumph. "We did it – oh my God, we did it! First of all, God is the greatest, not because we won, but for putting me in positions to maximize my God-given ability to surround me with these guys and with my family. This is an incredible feeling.
I'm lost for words. I'm sorry." Jaylen Brown, who was named Finals MVP, supported Tatum with 21 points, while Jrue Holiday added 15 and Derrick White 14.
The defeat marked a miserable end to the finals for Dallas duo Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, who had led the Western Conference fifth seeds on an improbable giant-killing journey to the NBA Finals. Doncic, sensational during the Mavs' Game 4 rout of the Celtics, finished with 28 points. But Irving scored a meager 15 points while being taunted with chants of "Kyrie sucks!" by Celtics fans still rankled by his departure fro.
