Celts
The Boston Celtics wasted no time in celebrating their hard-fought NBA title, flying to Miami just hours after their Game 5 victory over the Mavericks on Monday night.
It's a well-recognized journey for the Banner 18 team, which began its championship run with a five-game sweep of the Heat and suffered back-to-back losses in Miami.
Now, three series and hundreds of frequent flyer miles later, the champions returned to TD Garden on Friday to board amphibious vehicles for town's first victory parade in six years. And despite the short trip, Jayson Tatum considers all of his trips south a breeze.
“They're always easy,” Tatum told NBC Sports Boston's Brian Scalabrine on Friday when asked if this visit to Miami was nicer than the others.
JT held the Larry O'Brien trophy, laughed and shook his head. Just last season, his dreams were shattered when the Heat knocked the Celtics out of the Eastern Conference Finals in a brutal Game 7.
This season, nevertheless, Tatum returned with a touch of vengeance. After the Celtics' 118-84 Game 5 win over Miami in May, Tatum announced that he desired to play against the Heat in the primary round of the playoffs.
“I wanted to play Miami because we might have been a little more relaxed against Atlanta last year,” he said. “I knew Miami's history, how hard they play, how well coached they are, and for a first-round game, regardless of the seeding, we had to be ready to play and fight.”
Now, the team that chanted “We want Boston” appears to be nothing greater than a side issue for Tatum.
image credit : www.boston.com