Boston has always kept score in banners. On the night of June 17, 2024, it earned one more. At TD Garden, the Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 106–88 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals and took the series four games to one. It was the franchise's 18th championship. That broke a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers, who have 17, and put Boston alone at the top of the league's all-time list.
The wait had been long. Boston's previous title came in 2008, and the years since had their share of near misses. The Celtics lost the 2022 Finals to Golden State. A year later they fell to Miami in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, on their own floor. The 2023–24 team left far less to chance. It went 64–18 in the regular season and 16–3 in the playoffs, 80–21 in all.
Game 5 showed what that kind of team looks like with a trophy in reach. Boston led 28–18 after the first quarter and 67–46 at halftime. Dallas won the second half by only three points, 42–39, and never seriously threatened the margin. Jayson Tatum ran the night from every part of the floor, finishing with 31 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. “It means the world,” he said afterward.
Jaylen Brown added 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists and was named NBA Finals MVP, taking home the trophy named for Celtics legend Bill Russell. Across the five games Brown averaged 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists, and he paired those numbers with a strong defensive series against Dallas star Luka Dončić.
The architects
The man on the sideline was Joe Mazzulla, in his second season as head coach. His Celtics were built on unselfish ball movement, a demanding defense and a steady volume of 3-point shots. They played as if the math was always on their side.
The roster belonged to Brad Stevens, the former Celtics coach who moved into the front office as president of basketball operations in 2021. His decisive work came in the 2023 offseason. He traded for Kristaps Porziņģis on draft night and for Jrue Holiday just before training camp. Both joined a core led by Tatum and Brown, with Al Horford and Derrick White alongside them. Stevens's third roster finished the job.
The rolling rally
Boston answered on Friday, June 21. The duck boats left TD Garden on Causeway Street at 11 a.m. The route ran along Staniford Street to Cambridge Street, which becomes Tremont Street, and carried the team past City Hall Plaza and Boston Common. It then turned right onto Boylston Street and ran through Copley Square to a finish near the Hynes Convention Center. The city called it a rolling rally. It was Boston's 13th championship parade since 2001, a run shared among the Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins and Celtics.
By dusk the celebration had reached the water. On the harbor, at a spot tagged Boston Harbor Now, a Celtics banner hung inside a lit arch as the light went down. The streets had held the crowds earlier in the day. The waterfront held the quiet afterward.
Raised to the rafters
The banner that counts most went up four months later. On October 22, 2024, before the season opener against the New York Knicks, the Celtics handed out championship rings and raised their 2024 banner at TD Garden. Then they beat the Knicks 132–109.
Eighteen championship banners now hang over the Garden floor, and no franchise in the NBA has more. For a city that measures its seasons in banners, the 2024 title settled the count.