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BOSTON — As Al Horford weighed his future as a free agent in the summer of 2016, Celtics executive Danny Ainge told him, “You can win championships in many places, but there’s nothing like winning in Boston.”
Eight years later, on his second tour of duty with the Celtics, the 38-year-old Horford made good on that promise as the roster’s eldest statesman, helping Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — the all-world talents he shepherded to the game’s grandest stage — deliver the franchise’s record 18th NBA championship.
“That stuck with me from that meeting,” said Horford, who contributed nine points and nine rebounds to the 106-88 win over the Dallas Mavericks. “I was like, ‘Man, I’m trying to be great, and that’s what I want.’ The fact that it has come, it has happened — JT, JB stepping up in a big way and leading us — it’s special.”
It was Ainge who traded Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, the final vestiges of Boston’s last championship, for a cache of draft picks from the Brooklyn Nets in 2013. Two became Tatum and Brown. And it was Horford who served as their veteran, taking each to an Eastern Conference finals in their rookie seasons.
“Al Horford is a real-life legend and hero,” said Brown. “It’s been great to be his teammate.”
The three of them, more than anyone else on this roster, are Celtics. Not just in the sense that they have played in Boston. They have won here now. They are in the club. Their numbers will be retired in the rafters of TD Garden, alongside the championship banner. Alongside Russell and Cousy, Havlicek and Cowens, Bird and McHale, there will be Tatum and Brown. And make no mistake: There will be Horford, too. He is one of them now.
As the minutes passed on Boston’s blowout, close-out victory, 2008 Celtics champion Eddie House turned to this reporter and said, “Hey, Yahoo Sports, write this down: That is 18 of them now. You see him,” he said, pointing to 1981 NBA Finals MVP Cedric Maxwell, “and me,” he added, “and them,” pointing to the parquet floor, where Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla was pulling his starters one by one from the game.
“We’re all champions,” said House.
Al Horford celebrates…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/2024-nba-finals-the-celtics-new-champions-now-get-it–theres-nothing-like-winning-in-boston-073043306.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-06-18 07:30:43
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