As the final buzzer sounded in Game 3, Jayson Tatum jogged over to Jrue Holiday, giving him a high-five before letting out a triumphant scream. He then made his way to Jaylen Brown, who stood with his fists raised in relief after a hard-fought 106-99 win.
Surrounded by cameras, the two embraced for a moment, exchanging words.
“Just showing the emotions of the game. Two guys that was excited, tired, after the game,” Tatum said of the moment. “Just told him I was proud of him, and he said the same thing: that we’ve got to keep fighting. We can’t relax. And that was basically the conversation.”
“We were able to make plays and find a way to win. And we’ve been in those positions, and we’ve lost,” Brown added. “It was great to overcome that with my brother, Jayson, and with our team. That was special.”
Game 3 wasn’t easy, but Boston’s two superstars delivered when it mattered most.
Behind 20 first-half points from Tatum and 24 second-half points from Brown, the Jays had an answer to every Dallas run. They combined for 61 points, 13 assists and 14 rebounds, and scored or assisted on 36 of Boston’s 38 makes, with Tatum leading the team in scoring and Brown leading the team in both rebounds and assists.
They became just the second pair of Boston teammates to score at least 30 points each in an NBA Finals game, joining John Havlicek (40 points) and Bailey Howell (30 points), who did so in a title-clinching Game 6 of the 1968 Finals against the Lakers, establishing themselves as what many consider to be one of the best teams in franchise history.
“Those are our leaders,” Xavier Tillman said of Tatum and Brown. “For them to step up how they did in the third quarter and just kind of take the game over is what we needed. They came through for us. Especially in the fourth quarter, during those last four to five minutes, when we were struggling to get a bucket. They willed in the buckets, you know. At times, that’s what you need, and they responded, and we needed it for sure.”
For the Jays, it’s all but official. That embrace was like the last day of school. In essence, they have graduated. All they have to do is get their diploma, which, in this case, comes in the form of the Larry O’Brien Trophy, a 25.5-inch, 30-pound symbol of their achievement.
“It’s awesome. I mean, I can’t -- I don’t even really have words,” Brown said. “It kind of doesn’t even really feel real right now. I’m just trying to stay in the moment. It feels great to be up 3-0 in the series, but the job is not done.”
Obviously, they have one more game to win. And true to their “win the day” mentality, they aren’t going to put the cart in front of the horse.
“Can’t get too high. There is still one more left,” Jrue Holiday said. “We’ve seen crazier things happen. Just get the win. Whatever it takes, however long it takes.
“However long it takes, that’s our motto,” Tatum said. “However long it takes, that’s what it’s going to take, and nobody is not trying to relax at all.”
In this case, it’s not a matter of, “However long it takes.” It’s a matter of embracing the inevitable: The Boston Celtics are going to win the NBA title.
After seven years together, five trips to the Eastern Conference Finals, and now their second trip to the NBA Finals, the Jays are finally going to get over that hump—a feat critics once believed they would never accomplish.
It would take a disaster of unprecedented magnitude for the Celtics not to win it all. In NBA history, teams that win the first three games of a best-of-seven playoff series (any round) have a series record of 156-0. In the NBA Finals, teams that win the first three games have a series record of 14-0—and these two have experienced too many harsh lessons to become the first team on the wrong side of history.
“Experience is the best teacher. We learned from our mistakes,” Tatum said. “We learned from a team at the time that was better than us, that had been there and been over that hump, and mentally tougher at the time. We’ve grown from that. We really have.”
Brown offered a nearly identical sentiment.
“Experience is the best teacher,” Brown said. “All year long, we’ve been hearing about the Celtics of the past. For the last six to eight months, that’s all we’ve been hearing: is all the different shortcomings we’ve had in the past. This is a new team, you know what I mean. We’ve learned from those experiences. And in these moments, you can see that we learned from it. We stepped up to the plate, and we found a way to win.”
While contributions have come from up and down the roster, the pillars of Boston’s success have been the Jays, who have used past failures as motivation to put together their best seasons and deliver when the Celtics need them most.
“Obviously, the strength of this team is the team. But we understand that JB and JT, they are our guys, and they are going to make big plays, and they are going to make the right play,” Derrick White said.
“I think that’s the most important part is just we trust them to make the right play every time down the court, and they are facing literally every coverage known to man. They just make the right play no matter what time is on the clock, and we just trust them so much.”
It’s their time now. They are potentially 48 minutes away from cementing themselves into Celtics lore, and when that moment comes – it will be well worth the wait.
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