The Boston Celtics may have won their 18th championship in June but for most of the players on the team, it was the first championship of their careers. That included Finals MVP Jaylen Brown, who recalls the specific moment the team cohesively rallied to reach the title.
Brown said the team's championship moment was born in Game 3 of the 2024 NBA Finals, one that Boston won 106-99 to take a 3-0 lead.
“Definitely in the Finals Game 3. We were in Dallas, we were up 2-0 and they were storming back, the Mavericks,” Brown said on the Hot Ones show via the First We Feast YouTube channel. “They got hot. Kyrie starts going crazy, like one minute left, I hit a shot that kind of halted their momentum and kind of helped us carry out and get the win. That was this year and I think that helped us ultimately get the championship.”
Per Brown's statement, Dallas guard Kyrie Irving ended Game 3 with a game-high 35 points but could not pull his team to victory, even with Luka Doncic adding 27 points. The Celtics' duo of Brown and Jayson Tatum combined for 61 points with both going over 30.
The win Brown referenced was the first game of the series in Dallas, thus preventing the Mavericks from establishing any sort of momentum at home to even up the series. The Celtics would go on to lose Game 4 but wrap up the season a few nights later to win 4-1.
Celtics begin 2024-2025 season with preseason win over Nuggets
Throughout their decorated franchise history, the Celtics have not won back-to-back titles since repeating as champions in 1968 and 1969. Over 50 years later, the team that won the 2024 NBA Finals will attempt to achieve the feat in 2025 after keeping most of its core together.
Related Boston Celtics NewsArticle continues below
In their quest to win consecutive championships, the Celtics got off on the right foot by topping the Denver Nuggets in the 2024-2025 NBA preseason opener on Oct. 4. The game was played in the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi and despite it being a preseason matchup went down to the wire with a final score of 107-103.
Payton Pritchard led the way for the defending champions with 21 points off the bench while Tatum led the starters with 12 points. Nikola Jokic guided the way for Denver with 14 points and eight rebounds while Russell Westbrook added 12 points off the bench in his unofficial Nuggets debut.
Both teams will officially start the regular season on Oct. 24 when Boston travels to Washington D.C. to face the Wizards and Denver host the Oklahoma City Thunder.
