Finally, after 15 long, tireless seasons, banner number 18 has been secured. Last Tuesday, the Celtics were crowned NBA champions once again, after annilihating the Dallas Mavericks, 106-88, at TD Garden, winning the series 4-1. While the storyline may have been Brown winning finals MVP over Tatum, the underserved run to the finals the Celtics got, or Derrick White being plummeted to the ground by Derrick Lively II, chipping his tooth, everybody forgot about the real things that made this possible; grit, hardwork and Brad stevens. Grit and hardwork were the main contributions to how the Celtics won the championship. Historically, even befire this, the Celtics were one of the, if not the most sucessful NBA franchises. After 2020, when the Los Angeles Lakers was an equally tying 17 championships, the Celtics were pressured to win a championship and beat the Lakers. Yet, each year before and ahead would present a new challange. In 2019, long term project Kyrie Irving convinced the Celtics that he would resign with the Celtics – onyl to leave to the Brooklyn Nets a few months later. In 2020, they fell short to the Miami Heat in the Confrence Finals. In 2021, they got steamrolled by the Nets – the same team that Kyrie joined and played for. In 2022, they hired a new choach after Brad Stevens, the original coach moved up to the Celtics General Manager sport, and made the NBA finals, but lost in 6, and later fired the newley hired head coach for behavioural issues. In 2024, they nearly came back down 3-0 in the confrence finals, but at the beginning of Game 7, Jayson Tatum rolled his ankle, which essentailly made the Celtics give up hope. Through all this time, the media was not behind their backs. Thhey called the Celtics ‘busts’, spread rumors about them, and said taht the two Celtics supoerstars, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown should be traded. They said that Jaylen brown can’t dribble with his left ahnd, and that Jayson Tatum can’t provide in the clutch. But, here comes with the grit and perseverance. Through all these struggles, the Celtics ignored the voices of the media – instead focused on the end goal. Jaylen Brown worked on his handles , the Celtics team got more experienced players, and the Celtics started getting more freedom. But, there is still one aspect that we haven’t mentioned which helped the Celtics as well – Brad Stevens.
Brad Stevens may be the best GM in history. He originally was the Celtics coach and was moved up to GM in the offseason of the 2021 season. This is becuase Danny Ainge, a quality GM stepped down form the position. Maube its becuase he undersatnds the players so uch, that he made exceptional trades. He turned Josh Richardson and some picks to Derrick White, found Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet and Jordan Walsh, all quality roleplayers. And finally, he also traded Marcus Smart, Danilo Galanari, Robart Williams and Malcom Brodgon, plus some picks for Kristaps Porzingus, and Jrue Holiday. He is by far the real MVP. His GM skills have revelutionised the Celtics – for the better.