The Boston Celtics secured a record 18th championship as they beat the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 to complete a 4-1 series victory in the NBA Finals.
Celtics’ Jaylen Brown was named Most Valuable Player after a strong defensive display against Dallas’ Luka Doncic – the regular-season top scorer.
Dallas had kept alive their title hopes with a 122-84 win on Friday to deny the Celtics a clean sweep in the best-of-seven championship series.
But in front of their home fans in Boston, the top seeds were inspired to victory by Jayson Tatum’s 31-point performance.
The championship win was the Celtics’ first in 16 years and moves them one clear of the Los Angeles Lakers, who have won 17, in the record books.
“It was a full team effort,” said MVP Brown, who scored 21 points.
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“I share this with my brothers and my partner in crime Jayson Tatum – he was with me the whole way so we share this together.”
It was a miserable night for Dallas’ Kyrie Irving, who left the Celtics in 2019, as he was heckled by the crowd and scored only 15 points.
The Celtics were strong from the start and led 67-46 lead at halfway, with Irving and Doncic restricted to just 14 points between them in the first quarter
Dallas rallied slightly in the latter stages of the third quarter but still could not find a way past the Celtics, who took a 19-point advantage into the final quarter.
