How 2022 NBA Finals loss fueled Celtics and Jayson Tatum in 2024

The Boston Celtics won the NBA Championship when they defeated the Dallas Mavericks in 5 games in the 2024 NBA Finals. The Celtics were expected to get pushed hard by the Mavs and Luka Doncic in that series, but Boston was focused behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and they were able to assert themselves by coming through in crunch time in the first 3 games of the series and then closing out the Mavericks in Game 5.

“We lost in the Finals in 2022, so I know what it felt like to be on the other side… Seeing somebody else hold up the trophy… That sh*t just meant that much more."

Jayson Tatum speaks on what it was like winning the 24 Finals

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The Celtics were not about to lose their grip on the championship series, because they had learned a hard lesson just two years earlier when Boston met the Golden State Warriors in the finals. In that series, the Celtics came through with an impressive road victory in Game 1 of the series, and then took a lead when they returned home and won Game 3. However, Steph Curry and the Warriors became more determined after that loss and won the next three games to take the series.

The Warriors won the final game of the series on the Celtics’ home floor, and that stayed with Tatum and Brown.

Loss to Warriors fueled the Celtics

The Celtics had been pushed to seven-game triumphs over the Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat in their two previous series, and they did not have the strength to mount a similar rally against the Warriors. Tatum said the pain of that loss to Golden State stayed with the Celtics.

“We lost in the Finals in 2022, so I know what it felt like to be on the other side,” Tatum said. “Seeing somebody else hold up the trophy. That s*** just meant that much more.”

Tatum has been out this season after tearing his Achilles in last year’s playoff loss to the New York Knicks. While Tatum was expected to miss the 2025-26 season, his recovery is going well and he could be back at some point in 2026.

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