No team came close to testing the Celtics en route to their 2024 NBA championship. Boston’s title run featured the tenth-highest winning percentage in a single postseason. Following the tribulations of the season, Celtics star, Jayson Tatum, revealed there was one team that caused the roster to be worrisome.
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Tatum spoke with the Boston Globe for an interview and discussed a wide range of topics. He specifically gave details about the Celtics’ championship season, while revealing the one Western Conference team that was on his radar the most. Tatum said,
“People always ask me, when did you guys know you were going to win a championship? When Minnesota beat Denver, I felt like Denver was the only team that they matched up best with us. I thought that we were going to play Denver in the Finals and it was going to be a good one.”
Celtics General Manager, Brad Stevens, assembled one of the most well-balanced rosters in recent memory. Despite the tremendous talent, Tatum highlights the Nuggets as the one team that would’ve created problems for Boston.
In the regular season, the Nuggets swept the season series against the Celtics. Denver had all the tools to ruin Boston’s title hopes.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Aaron Gordon are great point-of-attack defenders who would make things extremely difficult for Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Nikola Jokic would’ve been a serious problem. Especially considering the health concerns of Kristaps Porziņģis, who could not stay healthy on the court.
However, Minnesota defeated Denver, which was the best-case scenario for Boston. The Mavericks eventually came out of the West, but the Celtics stayed composed and easily handled the competition. Tatum said,
“That was a weird feeling. I wasn’t able to sleep that night and I remember the morning of Game 4 we had shootaround, and I had never been in the position that if we win tonight, we’re champions. We were at shootaround and everybody was trying to act normal. I couldn’t take a nap. We lost by like 30. We wanted to win so bad. We were so anxious and so tight. But I knew when we were coming back home for Game 5, we were going to win.”
Despite feeling the pressure and cracking in Game 4, the Celtics didn’t let that define them. Following years of being unable to get over the hump, they finally hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
The championship meant everything to Tatum
Tatum has suffered from too much success throughout the early stages of his career. He is only 26 years old and is already 39th on the all-time playoff points leaders.
The achievement of an NBA championship took many failures for the Celtics’ core. Tatum was the subject of a lot of criticism but put it to rest with the title. He waited so long for the achievement that he even tattooed himself kissing the trophy onto his back.
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Although the Celtics finally got over the hump, they aren’t content with just doing it once. They have their eyes set on repeating and certainly have the tools to do so.
