Four Biggest Moments Of Celtics Title Run

Any championship run has its ups and downs, highs and lows. It takes a team working together, trusting each other, and executing together as the stakes increase and the palms get sweatier deeper into the playoffs. Career-defining plays and moments are made all with an NBA championship hanging in the balance. Here are some of the Celtics' biggest and career-defining moments during their title run.

Jaylen Brown Shot Against Indiana

The Celtics had every reason to hang their heads. They were on the verge of losing homecourt advantage during the Eastern Conference Finals to the young upstart Indiana Pacers team who led by three points with the ball and 8.1 seconds left. The game was over, and Indiana had outplayed Boston to this point. They couldn’t get stops on defense all game and didn’t seem to be on their A-game despite having more rest than the Pacers heading into this game. Indiana simply needed to inbound the ball and hit some free throws and they already would have accomplished their goal of getting a split in Boston. The only thing was, Jaylen Brown didn’t hear no bell.

As the inbounds pass was made in the direction of Pascal Siakam, Brown darted towards him and somehow was able to get a hand on the ball and ricochet it off Siakam and out of bounds. Celtics ball. He then drifted to the corned to receive a pass from Jrue Holiday on the inbounds and drained the three to tie the game and bring Boston back from the dead. It was a massive blow for the Pacers who had the win yanked out from underneath them and they would not be able to recover, as they would lose in overtime and were swept in four games.

Kristaps Porzingis Makes Celtics Finals Debut

The Celtics mostly cruised through the Eastern Conference playoffs with much of the national audience forgetting that they were missing one of their best players in Porzingis. Though the Celtics were still elite on both ends in his absence, he is the missing ingredient that can elevate Boston even higher on both ends.

After playing in his last game on April 29th in the first round against the Miami Heat, Porzingis was finally set to give his team everything his body had. He came out of the gates with about as dominant a quarter as you will see in an NBA Finals. He scored 18 points in the first half in a variety of ways and only 13 minutes played, punishing mismatches with post-ups, draining two threes, and rocking the rim with a dunk after blowing past Derrick Lively on a drive. Boston jumped out to a 37-20 first-quarter lead behind Porzingis before Dallas knew what hit them.

“Tonight was affirmation to myself that I’m pretty good,” Porzingis said. "I’m not perfect but I can play like this and I can add to this team.”

Even though Porzingis was limited for the remainder of the series, his first half of the Finals can’t be overlooked as a huge moment to kick off the NBA Finals and could have possibly changed the tides of the whole series.

Al Horford’s Closeout Against Cleveland

They always say the closeout is the hardest game of a series and that was the case during the second round as the Cavaliers would not say die against the Celtics. Despite a packed and raucous TD Garden that was full of fans eager for another trip to the conference finals, the Cavs came out playing like they didn’t want to head to vacation just yet. Marcus Morris Sr. looked like he was in a gym all by himself as he had his game of the year, unable to miss against his former team. He would finish the night with 25 points on 10-13 shooting (5-6 from three!) against a very good Celtics defense that was forcing him to make tough buckets.

Al Horford did not want to go back to Cleveland. The 37-year-old scored 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds (7 of those coming on the offensive glass), dished out 5 assists, blocked 3 shots, and had a steal. After his 6th and final three-point make of the evening, Horford turned back down the court and jumped in the air pumping his fist as his teammates celebrated his brilliant effort from the bench. Horford has been integral for Boston for years by providing spacing with his threes and his stellar, switchable defensive ability. He made the noble move of coming off the bench this past season for the first time in his 17-year career but would end up playing most of the playoffs as a starter due to Kristaps Porzingis missing time.

“We had a great opportunity at home to handle this, and I knew it was going to take a lot more than handling it normally,” said Horford.

He joined LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only players 37 years or older to have a 20-point, 15-rebound, five-assist playoff game in NBA history.

Horford gave it his all that night and picked up the slack when his team needed it. Jayson Tatum led the team with 25 points, but it was a rare low-scoring game for Jaylen Brown that postseason as he had just 11 points on the night. The Celtics may not have won that game without Horford’s 6 three-pointers, and they couldn’t come at a better time as he was 0-10 from deep the previous two games of the series. Horford is a sniper, however, knocking down 39% of his threes in his playoff career, and if he continues to get good looks or the defense sags off him, he will eventually break out just like he did in Game 5.

Holiday Stole The Ball

Jrue Holiday had perhaps his biggest game in Celtics green at a time when he wasn’t at his best physically. He had missed a shootaround at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indiana the morning before the Celtics would face the Pacers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

“I’m all right, had a fever, slept a lot. But I feel OK,” Holiday said. “I just made a play (at the end). He’s (Nembhard) a great player, had a great game. I just made a play.”

Holiday had two massive plays down the stretch to help Boston take the lead and erase an 18-point second-half lead for Indiana. An and-one layup muscling through Pascal Siakim and the ensuing free throw gave the Celtics a 112-111 lead with 39 seconds remaining. Following a Tatum missed layup attempt and a rebound by Andrew Nembhard, Holiday picked him up defensively as he pushed the ball into the front court. Holiday seemed to slip momentarily but then somehow recovered and slid in front of Nembhard, swiping the ball out from in front of him.

ESPN’s Mike Breen on the call gave shades of Celtics legendary announcer Johnny Most making his famous call, “Havlicek stole the ball!”

Breen captured the same energy and sense of the moment as Most had during the 1965 Eastern Finals. In both scenarios, Boston held a one-point lead late in the game before Havlicek and Holiday both made their iconic steals to help secure the victory. 59 years after Johnny Most made his famous call, history would repeat itself as Breen made his own.

 “Knocked away, it’s stolen by Holiday!”, exclaimed Breen as the Pacers were forced to foul with 1.1 seconds remaining in the game.

This is what Jrue Holiday was brought to Boston to do, make championship-caliber plays on the biggest stage. His steal to help the Celtics go up 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals will certainly be remembered as one of the biggest plays of the title run and his career.

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