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Taylor Snow

BOSTON – There was a significant discrepancy in experience when the Boston Celtics faced off against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals two seasons ago. Most of Golden State’s core had been to multiple championship rounds, while zero members of Boston’s core had previously made it that far.

In the end, the more experienced team prevailed.

In this year’s Finals, Boston finds itself in a different situation. Most of that 2022 core remains intact and has the experience of its prior trip to lean on. Meanwhile, its opponent, the Dallas Mavericks, has very little Finals experience on its roster that it can tap into leading up to Game 1 on June 6.

While experience isn’t everything, it plays a more significant role as the playoffs go deeper. And Al Horford is certain that it will be beneficial for this Celtics group in the weeks ahead.

“I think it is gonna help tremendously,” Horford said Friday afternoon. “Because the first time, it felt like a roller coaster. Just a lot going on: the increased coverage of media, all the responsibilities that we had, and just everything that came with it. So I just think that this time around, we all have an understanding. We know what things are like, and I feel like we'll be able to manage everything better.”

Boston’s preparation for the Finals began long before this week; it started last summer.

There’s a certain mindset that a contender has to adopt all the way from the beginning if it hopes to reach its ultimate goal. Horford believes his team has the right framework in place, which it began building before the season started.

“We've established consistency and hard work, and we've tried to embody what being a Celtic is about,” said the 17-year vet. “From the beginning of camp and from before camp, even in September when we were doing voluntary workouts here, we were just consistent. Everybody's coming in here, everybody's working, we're all getting together. What do we want our legacy to be? I think it has to be the consistent, hardworking team. We're playing for each other, we have really enjoyed being in this space, and I feel like that's&nbsp;what we're about.”

Consistency and hard work are the keys to getting over the hump and winning the Finals. One player in the locker room can attest to that: Jrue Holiday, who is only three years removed from capturing a championship with the Milwaukee Bucks.

“It takes everything,” said the veteran point guard. “I think it's one of the hardest things I've ever done. Mentally, physically, you're exhausted. Teams know each other so well, at this point, it's kind of about making plays. It's about executing.”

And it’s about not giving up no matter how tired you become.

“The biggest thing is just how exhausted you were, or how exhausted I was because I left everything on the floor,” Holiday said. “We were down 0-2. I think even having the feeling of encouragement like, 'It's not over.' But I think it's because my team had the mentality of it's not over until we say it's over. I think being able to go out there and fight and leave everything out on the court, you have the best chance of getting that win.”

Holiday’s experience alone is invaluable for this group, because he can provide the right leadership to get them through any hard times that may lie ahead. Combining his knowledge with that of players who went through the 2022 Finals should give Boston the confidence to navigate through this final round.

“We have a bunch of different guys, different players and coaches that have been in different atmospheres,” said coach Joe Mazzulla. “So just relying on each guy’s experience and each guy’s expertise and what each guy has been through, and try to use it for us to execute together.”

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Boston Leaning on Past Experience to Navigate the 2024 NBA Finals

BOSTON – After making quick work of the Indiana Pacers in a four-game sweep of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Boston Celtics are in the midst of an unprecedented nine-day game-less stretch leading up to the NBA Finals.

Having ample rest can lead to two different results: a team could either be disadvantaged by growing rusty during such a stretch, or they could use the time to their advantage to keep their minds and bodies sharp so that they are raring to go by the June 6 start date.

Coach Joe Mazzulla is doing his best to make sure his team uses its time properly so that it can fall into the latter category.

“Anything can be good or bad for you, depending on how you use it,” Mazzulla told reporters Thursday morning. “Time could be good, it could be bad – everything goes into how you use it, how you weaponize it. So we’re weaponizing our time right now.”

Part of the weaponizing process is for the team to assess all recent experiences and to figure out what, if any, adjustments need to be made. This is why it’s been so important for the Celtics to win in so many different ways throughout their playoff run; they’ve won blowouts, they’ve won close games, they’ve won comebacks, they’ve won in the comfort of their home, and they’ve won in hostile environments (in fact, they haven’t lost on the road yet.)

“The ability to win different ways is very important,” said Mazzulla. “Executing, playing from behind, protecting leads – any time you can find different ways to win, I think it’s important. And in the late games, I just saw our attention to detail defensively, I saw a level of poise, and I saw a heightened awareness to execution, which is the most important thing. And at the end of the day, you’ve gotta make plays, so our guys made the necessary plays to win on both ends of the floor.”

All of those experiences come into play as they prepare for the final stage. But only if they utilize them properly.

“[Those experiences] are only valuable if you use them to your advantage in the next opportunity that you have,” Mazzulla said. “Nothing is really valuable if you let it go to waste. So between now and June 6, we have to take every experience that we've been through, and we're going to make sure we take advantage of it and that we utilize it to put ourselves in the best position to win.”

Friday will mark the team’s first official organized practice leading into the Finals. It’s possible that by then they’ll know who they’ll be playing in the next round if Dallas can finish off Minnesota on Thursday night. If not, the focal point doesn’t change much, because the most important emphasis for the C’s is focusing on themselves.

“Practice is all about the details and the margins, so making sure we get better as a team, making sure we get better offensively and defensively, making sure we understand our situational philosophies and situational execution, things that go into winning,” Mazzulla said. “The same things we’ve been doing all year. Those would be the points of emphasis. And so I think, regardless of who wins (the Dallas-Minnesota series), we’ve gotta get better.”

They’ve got to get better and be at their best by June 6.

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Celtics ‘Weaponizing’ Their Time in Preparation for Finals

BOSTON – Amid the celebration of Boston’s Eastern Conference Championship win Monday night, Cedric Maxwell was handed a microphone to announce the series MVP. When the Celtics Legend revealed the Larry Bird Trophy winner to be Jaylen Brown, the television cameras panned to Boston’s star wing, frozen in shock before the joy kicked in as his teammates swarmed him.

“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Brown said after the Celtics completed their sweep of the Indiana Pacers with a 105-102 Game 4 win to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals. “I don’t ever win [any individual awards]. I’m just happy we won.”

Modest as his response was, Brown deserved such recognition and deserved to bask in the spotlight after the series he had.

He was the hero of Game 1 when he forced a turnover late in regulation to set up his miraculous game-tying 3-pointer to send the match into overtime.

He was the star of Game 2 when he erupted for a playoff career-high-tying 40 points in a blowout win.

He had his most efficient performance of the series in Game 3 when he scored 24 points on 55.6 percent shooting from the field.

And he had his fingerprints all over the title-clinching crunch-time victory, delivering the game-tying step-through floater, a steal, a block, and the assist on Derrick White’s game-winning bucket all within the final three minutes.

Throughout those four games, Brown averaged 29.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 51.7 percent from the field and 37.0 percent from 3-point range.

“Jaylen deserved it,” Al Horford said. “He’s really been playing so well this year. You can see the improvement in his game, his growth. This is something that we're all celebrating with him and it's very well-deserved.”

Much of Brown's improvement has come on the defensive end, which was visible throughout the series and especially toward the end of Game 4. Indiana was held scoreless during the final 3:32 of action as the C’s went on a 7-0 run, and JB's defensive effort was a driving force for the duration of that stretch.

"I think I'm one of the best two-way wings in this game,” Brown said. “I thought this year, I've taken it to a level and I've increased it. I took the matchup. I picked up guys full-court. I chased guys off screens. I've battled with bigs … I like to set my hat on just being a versatile two-way wing who can do both at any point in time. The last four minutes of this game, you saw that."

Part of Brown’s two-way impact comes with his increased vocal leadership. He noted how he wanted to step up in that department after their main voice, Marcus Smart, was traded. We saw Brown's voice emerge throughout the regular season and even more in the Playoffs.

“I wanted to make sure that everybody felt me, and everybody knew what the standard was,” Brown said. “We didn’t skip no steps all season. I think we played the right way every single game. I thought everybody was accountable. And this is the byproduct.”

It’s a byproduct of winning the ECF MVP, as well. Brown was so locked into every action on both ends of the floor, he was so focused on winning each possession, that it took a moment for it all to catch up in the end when his name was announced over the Gainsbridge Fieldhouse public address system.

“I think it's even better because he didn't expect it,” said Jrue Holiday. “That really means that that didn't matter to him. It was about winning and whatever it took, however long it took, that's what was important. So I think when you have that mentality and that mindset and you see great people get rewarded for the things that they do, it just brings joy. I'm super excited for him. He's been a First Team All-NBA for the whole season and wish he would've got that, but to see him get this award is big-time.”

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Brown Earns ECF MVP as Celtics Punch Ticket to NBA Finals

The Boston Celtics experienced their own version of the Jordan "Flu Game" Saturday night: Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals will forever be known as the “Jrue Game.”

Boston rallied back from an 18-point deficit, and Jrue Holiday rallied from an illness to deliver the go-ahead bucket and the game-sealing steal. Together, they overcame the Indiana Pacers for a 114-111 win at Gainsbridge Fieldhouse to take a 3-0 series lead.

Holiday was so sick earlier in the day that he couldn’t attend the team’s shootaround, causing the team to list his status as “questionable” until around tip-off time. However, nothing was going to hold him back from suiting up and stepping on the court.

“I didn't feel too well, but, I guess I just figured if I got a good day's rest or tried to sleep through it, that would help me for tonight,” Holiday said. “It’s Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, so I wasn't going to miss this game.”

He didn’t miss the game, and he didn’t miss in the clutch.

With 38.9 seconds remaining, Holiday drove to the basket and tossed in a game-tying left-handed layup through contact from Pascal Siakam. Boston's veteran point guard then stepped up to the free-throw line and put his team ahead, 112-111, for its first lead since the beginning of the second quarter.

“I think I just saw a chance and took an opportunity,” Holiday said of the bucket. “I felt like [Siakam] was on his heels. He wasn't really expecting me to attack downhill. So I attacked him and just tried to be aggressive and got the and-one.”

And he had one more big play left in his bag on the other end. As Andrew Nembhard drove in for the potential winning bucket, Holiday got in front and stripped the ball loose with 3.8 seconds remaining. He grabbed the rock and sprinted up-court before getting fouled and then proceeded to finish off the Pacers with two more clutch free throws.

“That was an unbelievable play,” Al Horford said of the steal. “A guy like that coming full speed and having the instincts to do that, he's just a winner. Ultimately, that's what it comes down to. He's a winner. And he stepped up in such a big way for us tonight in that moment, also when he got the and-one, then knocking down those free throws at the end. He's a winner, man. I'm so fortunate to be playing next to him. I don't take it for granted.”

Holiday impacted the win in several ways, finishing with 14 points, nine rebounds, three assists, three steals, and one block in 38 minutes of action.

The other four starters stepped up in their own ways as well. Jayson Tatum logged 36 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, two blocks, and one steal in 44 minutes of turnover-free action. Jaylen Brown poured in 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting. Al Horford scored 23 points while becoming the oldest player in playoff history to make seven 3-pointers in a game. And Derrick White added an all-around effort of 13 points, five rebounds, seven assists, and four blocks.

However, it was Holiday who deserved the game ball for powering through adversity and delivering the biggest plays of the night.

“I can't speak highly enough about Jrue,” said Tatum. “The ultimate teammate competitor, obviously a champion, wasn't at shootaround today, he was sick, dealing with chills and stuff like that. We've all been there, how tough that is, to fight through it, and for him to come out there and lay it all on the line for us, make the game-winning play essentially, especially on the defensive end. Jrue is just a big-time player, and he made a tremendous play.”

As Brown put it simply, “Jrue is different. Nothing really else to say. Jrue is just different."

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The Jrue Game: Holiday Rallies Through Illness, Seals Game 3 Comeback Win

BOSTON – After being inexplicably left off this year’s All-NBA team, Jaylen Brown came out Wednesday night with a message for all the voters who failed to include him on their ballots.

That message was a 40-point eruption in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, which sparked a 126-110 win over the Indiana Pacers to give his Boston Celtics a 2-0 series lead.&nbsp;

When asked if he felt motivated by the All-NBA snub from the voting results that had been released the night before, Brown responded by claiming to have bigger fish to fry than to worry about a regular-season recognition.

“I mean, we're two games from the Finals,” he said. “So honestly, I don't got the time to give a (expletive).”

Whether he intended it or not, Brown’s All-NBA case was broadcast to the world at the perfect time.

The superstar wing was a confident and dominant shooter from all over the court, attempting 17 shots from inside the 3-point arc, 10 shots from outside the arc, and 11 shots from the free-throw line, while tying his career playoff-high in scoring. He also tied a career playoff-high for points in a quarter with a 17-point second frame.

“Just being aggressive,” Brown said of his scoring approach. “Wanted to get out in transition and run. Wanted to attack their smaller guards to put pressure on them, get to the baskets, get to the free-throw line.”

It was nothing new for Brown, who was in attack mode all season long. He averaged 23.0 points per game – a stellar mark for someone playing alongside two other elite scorers in Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis – while shooting a career-high 49.9 percent from the field.

“Ya’ll see what I see,” Jrue Holiday said of his teammate. “A great player, a great leader, but wants to win and takes things into his own hands. Having a guy like that on my side, I love it … The way JB is playing, man, is outstanding.”

It was somewhat poetic that Brown happened to be playing against one of the players who beat him out for All-NBA Third Team: Tyrese Haliburton. So of course, JB went out and scored four times as many points as Indy’s point guard.

It should be noted that Haliburton had to leave the game late in the third quarter due to hamstring tightness, but up until that point, Brown had outscored him 31-10.

However, for Brown, this wasn’t about making an individual statement. This was about making a statement on how his impact leads to winning. And that’s one of the many things head coach Joe Mazzulla loves about him.

“I think he cares about [the All-NBA snub] in a way that motivates him, and I think he doesn’t really care about it at all because he understands that winning is the most important thing,” Mazzulla said. “So he has an innate ability to just get better and to work hard, he has unreal confidence, but he’s also not afraid to work on things that he knows he has to get better at. So you see him every day at shootaround or practice, he’s out there with six or seven coaches working on every possession, every spacing imaginable so that he sees his reads. He just cares about the right stuff. Obviously, I think stuff like that does motivate him, but I know he also really wants to win, and he has a growth mindset and wants to get better.”

Through that approach, Brown is better than he’s ever been. He was the hero in Game 1 with his clutch play on both ends of the floor toward the end of regulation. He was by far the most dominant player on the court in Game 2. And to show for it, his team is now just two wins away from punching its ticket to the NBA Finals.

At the end of the day, that’s the only statement that matters.

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Jaylen Brown Makes Statement with 40-Piece in Game 2 Win

For the third consecutive season, Jayson Tatum has been named to the All-NBA First Team – a no-brainer accolade for the best player on the best team in the league.

The seventh-year wing is coming off his fifth All-Star season in which he averaged 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, a career-high 4.9 assists, and 1.0 blocks per game while shooting 47.1 percent from the field (the highest mark since his rookie campaign), 37.6 percent from 3-point range, and 83.3 percent from the free-throw line.

He accomplished all of that while leading the Celtics to an NBA-best 64-18 record, making them the first Eastern Conference team to win over 60 games in a season since the 2012-13 Miami Heat.

Joining Tatum on the First Team were Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dallas’ Luka Doncic, and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo. It marked Tatum’s fourth overall All-NBA recognition, including a Third Team selection in 2019-20.

Jaylen Brown, surprisingly, was not among the 15 players chosen for either of the three teams announced Wednesday night. He earned by far the most votes (50 Third Team votes) of any player who did not make the cut.

While Brown’s snubbing was disappointing, Tatum’s achievement is still something that the entire Celtics team can celebrate because it’s largely a reflection of the squad’s collective success.

Tatum was one of several Celtics who sacrificed his role this season, as he willingly allowed his scoring production to dip – by more than three points per game – from the previous campaign in order to maximize his teammates' impact. He became more of a distributor, showing growth in his decision-making skills and ability to read defenses.

Even with the addition of a 20-point-per-game scorer in Kristaps Porzingis, Tatum still ranked among the top seven scorers in the league, while finishing just 13 points shy of his third straight 2,000-point season.

Tatum was one of four players to average at least 26.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game. The other three were fellow First Teamers, Antetokounmpo, Doncic, and Jokic. He was also one of only three players to make at least 600 field goals, 200 3-pointers, and 400 free throws along with Doncic and New York’s Jaylen Brunson.

JT led the Celtics in scoring, rebounding, field-goal makes, 3-point makes, and free-throw makes, and was second in assists and steals.

He became just the seventh player in franchise history to earn three First Team selections, joining Bob Cousy (10), Larry Bird (nine), John Havlicek (four), Bill Sharman (four), Ed Macauley (three), and Bill Russell (three.

The only item that Tatum is missing that those other six have is a championship. So now the best player on the best team in the league will aim to check that accomplishment off his basketball bucket list to cap off his latest All-NBA First Team campaign.

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Tatum Earns Third Straight All-NBA First Team Selection

BOSTON – The best defensive backcourt in the league earned its flowers Tuesday when Jrue Holiday and Derrick White were selected to the NBA's All-Defensive Second Team.

It marked Holiday's sixth All-Defensive recognition, as he earned six First Team votes and 24 for the Second Team. For White, it was his second All-Defensive honor after also making the Second Team last season, earning 15 First Team votes and 68 Second Team votes.

Together, Holiday and White helped lead Boston to a defensive rating of 110.6, which was the second-best mark in the NBA behind Minnesota (108.4).

“Effort and versatility,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzullasaid when asked about Holiday and White’s impact shortly after the All-Defense announcement. “They have the ability to guard different guys in pick-and-roll coverages, pick-and-roll isolation, off-ball screens. They’re just two versatile guys you can put on different matchups and different schemes with them and different lineup flexibility.”

Other Celtics who received votes were Jaylen Brown (three First Team and one Second Team) and Jayson Tatum (two Second Team).

The First Team consisted of Heat center Bam Adebayo, Lakers forward Anthony Davis, Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert, Pelicans forward Herb Jones, and Spurs center Victor Wembanyama.

Joining Holiday and White on the Second Team were Bulls guard Alex Caruso, Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels, and Magic guard Jalen Suggs.

This was the first year in which there were no positional requirements for each team, hence the frontcourt-heavy First Team.

With that being said, Holiday and White both made solid individual cases for the First Team.

White was the leading shot-blocker among qualified NBA guards this season, averaging 1.2 swats per game. His 87 blocks were the fourth-most in a single season all-time among players under 6-foot-5.

White also averaged the most contested shots (6.6) among qualified NBA guards. He had the second-best plus/minus (plus-319)in the league behind Nikola Jokic. And he had the third-best net rating (12.5) in the NBA behind teammates Sam Hauser (14.2) and Payton Pritchard (13.6).

Holiday’s impact was less stat-based and more focused on his overall presence. He is always in the right place at the right time, constantly moving and providing help, and making his teammates’s jobs easier on that end.

“It's been amazing playing with him,” White said of Holiday following Wednesday’s practice. Obviously, playing against him, you know what kind of defender he is, but just seeing it night in and night out and just the way that he impacts the game without touching the basketball, he's a special player and it's really nice to have him on our team. He just makes up for any mistakes that anybody makes. Jrue’s usually there to make up for it. I don't know how many All-Defense teams he’s made but he probably needs more because he's unreal.”

How Holiday and White complemented each other on the defensive end played a major role in the Celtics winning 64 regular-season games as well as their 9-2 postseason record.

Luke Kornet believes Boston would be nowhere near as successful as it has been if it weren’t for those two.

“There are some games where just the ability for one of them to pick up full-court or make some plays in a disadvantaged situation, I feel like it just sets the tone for everyone else defensively when you're seeing how hard they're going to work just to kind of get it into place to operate,” said the backup center. “We wouldn't be close to where we are without them and the impact that they have on that side of the ball.”

Holiday and White shared so much of the load on that side of the ball, so it’s only right that they share the honor of earning All-Defense as a tandem.

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Holiday, White Earn All-Defense Nods After Anchoring East’s Top D

BOSTON – Jaylen Brown saved the day in regulation and Jayson Tatum finished off the job in overtime, helping the Boston Celtics pull off a miraculous, 133-128 Game 1 win over the Indiana Pacers to tip off the Eastern Conference Finals Tuesday night.

In the final minute of the fourth quarter, Brown knocked down a pair of clutch free-throws, forced a critical Indiana turnover while trailing by three with 8.5 seconds remaining, and then knocked down the game-tying triple to send the game into overtime.

With a fresh slate in OT, Brown's partner in crime completed the job. Tatum scored 10 of his game-high 36 points in the extra period, including the go-ahead, and-1 layup with 1:12 remaining, followed by a 3-pointer to put the C’s up by four.

“Welcome to the NBA Playoffs,” Brown said in the aftermath of the chaotic finish. “You’ve just got to manage your emotions of the game. Anything can happen. The game is not over until the final buzzer sounds.”

Boston’s third ‘J’ – Jrue Holiday – also stepped up with the best game of his Celtics career, scoring a season-high 28 points along with seven rebounds, eight assists, and three steals. He, Brown, and Tatum became the first trio of teammates in NBA playoff history to log at least 25 points and three steals apiece in the same game. Plus, they each recorded at least seven rebounds and four assists apiece.

The Celtics trailed by three points with 10 seconds remaining and the ball in Indiana's hands. They seemed to be dead in the water at that moment, but the team still felt very much alive.

“We’ve seen crazy stuff happen all the time,” said Holiday. “I don’t think that we think we've lost a game until we’ve actually lost a game. That’s part of the reason why we were so resilient toward the end of the game; anything can happen.”

Brown played a big part in that “anything,” delivering two epic plays on either side of the ball in the closing 10 seconds.

"It's simple: big-time players make big-time plays,” Tatum said of his wing-mate extending the game. “That was a hell of a shot he made, and the deflection that gave us the opportunity to make that shot.”

After Brown sent the game to OT, it was Tatum’s turn to step up in the clutch. He nearly singlehandedly outscored the Pacers in the extra five-minute frame, finishing with 10 points to Indy’s 11.

It was the first 10-point overtime period by an NBA player in a postseason game since 2021. And it marked just the second instance of a Celtic scoring at least 10 points in a playoff overtime period during the play-by-play era (Rajon Rondo, 12 points in Game 2 of the 2012 ECF).

“Big-time players make big-time plays,” Tatum repeated, this time referring to himself. “Simple as that.”

The most consistent big-time player of the night was Holiday, who did a little bit of everything, as he so often does. He became just the third Celtic to record at least 28 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, and three steals in a playoff game, joining Larry Bird (three times) and Rondo.

“Jrue came out and balled, man,” said Brown. “He’s the reason why we won his game. I think he just was poised, he took advantage of his matchups. He just was so, so elite in that. It’s a lot. And he’s guarding (Tyrese) Haliburton, picking him up, chasing him around. That was special from Jrue Holiday.”

It was a special night for all three J’s – three big-time players who make big-time plays.