【中美创新时报2024 年 6 月 18 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）点亮 Hoyo de Monterrey 以纪念 Red Auerbach，并为另一场游行做好准备。凯尔特人队在他们传说中的镶木地板上比赛，横幅在场边高高飘扬，周一以 106-88 的 NBA 总决赛第五场战胜达拉斯小牛队，赢得了他们 NBA 最好的第 18 个总冠军。《波士顿环球报》记者丹·肖纳西（Dan Shaughnessy）对此作了下述报道。
职业篮球世界恢复了秩序。从 1950 年代到 80 年代，波士顿的绿队统治了美国国家篮球协会。火炬已传递给新一代冠军：杰森·塔图姆和杰伦·布朗。
“我们该毕业了，”布朗在第五场比赛前告诉塔图姆。
比赛结束后，布朗获得了比尔·拉塞尔总决赛 MVP 奖杯。
“这是全队的努力，杰森·塔图姆一直陪着我，”布朗说。
波士顿的两位超级巨星在他们共同的第七个赛季（107 场季后赛）达到了顶峰，在联盟历史上最具统治力的赛季之一中击败了所有对手。在两位蓝鸟队的带领下，在布拉德·史蒂文斯收购德里克·怀特、朱·霍勒迪和克里斯塔普斯·波尔津吉斯的冲击下，凯尔特人赢得了 101 场比赛中的 80 场，在季后赛中取得了 16-3 的战绩。
在击败迈阿密（4-1）、克利夫兰（4-1）、印第安纳（4-0）和达拉斯（4-1）之前，教练乔·马祖拉的冠军队在六周内没有输过一场季后赛，直到上周五在达拉斯遭遇 38 分的惨败。
他们在花园球馆决赛中以全力反击，这更像是加冕而不是比赛。波士顿在半场以上的比赛中以 21 分的领先优势进入中场休息佩顿·普里查德的压哨球。凯尔特人队从未落后，在第三节领先多达 26 分（78-52）。
塔图姆最终得到 31 分，布朗得到 21 分。面对凯尔特人队和他们的“狂热粉丝”，凯里·欧文（16 投 5 中得到 15 分）不知道是什么击中了他，而卢卡·东契奇则一如既往地得到 28 分。
凯尔特人队的新装备延续了新英格兰 21 世纪职业体育的复兴高潮（爱国者队、红袜队、棕熊队和凯尔特人队共获得 13 次冠军），这始于 2002 年 2 月汤姆·布雷迪和爱国者队在新奥尔良击败圣路易斯公羊队。
我们担心布雷迪转投坦帕后，神奇之旅可能会结束，但经过 5 年半的“干旱”，鸭子船队再次准备出发。
35 岁的教练马祖拉干得不错，他成为自 1969 年比尔·拉塞尔担任球员兼教练对阵湖人队以来最年轻的赢得 NBA 总冠军的教练，当时他每晚上场 48 分钟。（难怪他在 13 个赛季中赢得了 11 个冠军。）
“我们拥有世界上最好的球迷，”马祖拉在冠军台上说道。“你一生中很少有机会成为伟人。”
整个下午和晚上，花园球场外的场景就像西区伍德斯托克，球迷们挤满了北站附近的街道和酒吧。下午得知该区域将在第一节结束时被封锁后，人们迫切地想要进入球场。
凯尔特人队因 7 英尺 2 英寸的中锋波尔津吉斯（16 分钟的篮筐保护）的回归而获得了提振，他因脚踝受伤错过了第三场和第四场比赛。当这位大个子出来热身时，花园球迷们疯狂了，PA 播放了凯文·加内特最喜欢的菲尔·柯林斯的歌曲“In The Air Tonight”。人们准备好像 2008 年一样狂欢。
塔图姆和布朗前 10 次投篮只命中一次，但凯尔特人队在整个节中都保持领先。波尔津吉斯在第一节还剩 6 分 49 秒时首次亮相，凯尔特人队以 11-5 领先。
凯尔特人队以 9-0 的比分结束本节，亮点是萨姆·豪瑟的三分球，然后豪瑟的抢断导致塔图姆的快攻，然后塔图姆的抢断和得分。波士顿以 28-18 领先。
塔图姆在第二节开始带球进攻，JT 的三分球让凯尔特人在半场还剩 7 分钟时领先 15 分（46-31）。普里查德上场仅 4 秒，但他在终场哨响时投中 49 英尺远的球，使半场结束时比分变为 67-46。
38 岁的艾尔·霍福德（在参加过百万场季后赛后首次获得总冠军）在第三节初段投中三分，将领先优势扩大到 25 分，最高时达到 26 分。
总而言之，这是对周五在达拉斯以 122-84 惨败的一个很好的回应。
小牛队教练杰森·基德在那场比赛后嘲讽凯尔特人队。
“我们的团队已经准备好了，”基德嗤之以鼻。“他们已经准备好庆祝了。”
毫无疑问，这很尴尬，这是对凯尔特人球迷的又一次考验，他们已经对两位蓝鸟队球员失去了耐心。这是凯尔特人模仿蒂娜·特纳在其传奇歌曲《骄傲玛丽》中的开场白的又一个例子，蒂娜·特纳曾说：“我们永远不会做任何轻松的事情。”
事实上，德州电锯杀人狂是总决赛历史上第三惨败，但凯尔特人老球迷知道不能让一场惨败决定整个系列赛。
我们记得 1985 年拉里伯德凯尔特人队在第一场比赛中以 148-114 击败湖人队，然后在六场比赛中输掉了系列赛。一年前，凯尔特人在洛杉矶的第三场比赛中以 104-137 惨败，但在接下来的四场比赛中赢了三场，并在夺得老波士顿花园的第 15 号横幅后的第二天前往玫瑰园拜访罗纳德里根。
总决赛第五场是两位蓝鸟队的毕业日和彻底的救赎。
他们曾五次一起打进总决赛，这是他们三个赛季以来第二次进入 NBA 总决赛。去年，他们在 0-3 落后热火队的情况下将总决赛拖入第七场，但塔图姆在决赛早期扭伤了脚踝，只得到 14 分（全场 5 次投篮命中） 13）以 103-84 的比分大胜。布朗表现更差，9 个三分球仅命中 1 个，并有 8 次失误。
这场失利促使波士顿篮球队老板布拉德·史蒂文斯对阵容进行了调整。马库斯·斯马特、罗伯特·威廉姆斯三世、格兰特·威廉姆斯和马尔科姆·布罗格登“再见”。波尔津吉斯和霍勒迪“你好”。
现在，丹尼·安吉（奥尔巴赫的得意门生和孙子）选中布朗八年后，他选中塔图姆七年后，这两位蓝鸟队球员与库兹和萨奇、拉里和马克斯、KG 和保罗·皮尔斯一起加入了球队。
他们已经登上了巅峰。
他们是 NBA 总冠军。
题图：杰伦·布朗（Jaylen Brown）被评为总决赛最有价值球员。BARRY CHIN/GLOBE STAFF
附原英文报道：
A torch has been passed: Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum join the champions club and help Celtics raise Banner 18
By Dan Shaughnessy Globe Staff,Updated June 17, 2024
Light up a Hoyo de Monterrey in honor of Red Auerbach and get ready for another parade. Playing on their fabled parquet floor, with banners flapping high above courtside, the Celtics won their NBA-best 18th championship Monday with a 106-88, NBA Finals Game 5 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
Order is restored to the pro basketball universe. From the 1950s through the ‘80s, Boston’s Green Team ruled the National Basketball Association. The torch has been passed to a new generation of champions: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
“It’s time for us to graduate,” Brown told Tatum before Game 5.
When it was over, Brown received the Bill Russell Finals MVP Trophy.
“It was a full team effort and Jayson Tatum was with me the whole way,” said Brown.
Boston’s bookend superstars reached the summit in their seventh season together (107 career playoff games), shredding all competition in one of the most dominant seasons in the history of the league. With the two Jays leading the way, buffeted by Brad Stevens’s acquisitions Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Kristaps Porzingis, the Celtics won 80 of 101 games and went 16-3 in the playoffs.
Blitzing past Miami (4-1), Cleveland (4-1), Indiana (4-0) and Dallas (4-1), coach Joe Mazzulla’s champs went six weeks without losing a playoff game before suffering a 38-point beatdown in Dallas last Friday.
They responded with full fury in the Garden finale, which was more coronation than competition. Boston took a 21-point lead at intermission on a more-than-halfcourt buzzer-beater from Payton Pritchard. The Celtics never trailed, and led by as many as 26 (78-52) in the third quarter.
Tatum finished with 31, Brown with 21. In the face of the Celtics and their “cult,” Kyrie Irving (15 points on 5-of-16 shooting) never knew what hit him and Luka Doncic delivered his usual 28.
The Celtics’ new hardware extends New England’s 21st century pro sports High Renaissance (13 championships for the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins, and Celtics), which began when Tom Brady and the Patriots upset the St. Louis Rams in New Orleans in February 2002.
We worried that the magic ride might be over after Brady bolted for Tampa, but after a 5½-year “drought,” the Duck Boats again are ready to roll.
Nice work there by 35-year-old coach Mazzulla, who becomes the youngest coach to win an NBA championship since Bill Russell served as player/coach against the Lakers in 1969 while playing 48 minutes per night. (No wonder he won 11 championships in 13 seasons.)
“We got the best fans in the world,” Mazzulla said from the winner’s stage. “You get very few chances in life to be great.”
Throughout the afternoon and evening, the scene outside the Garden was a West End Woodstock as fans jammed streets and bars adjacent to North Station. There was urgency to get inside the perimeter once it was learned during the afternoon that the area would be sealed off at the end of the first quarter.
The Celtics got a boost with the return of 7-foot-2-inch center Porzingis (16 minutes of rim protection), who missed Games 3 and 4 with an ankle injury. Garden fans went wild when the big guy came out to warm up and the PA played Kevin Garnett’s favorite Phil Collins number, “In The Air Tonight.” Folks were ready to party like it’s 2008.
Tatum and Brown made only one of their first 10 shots, but the Celtics were able to hold a lead throughout the quarter. Porzingis first appeared with 6:49 left in the first and the Celtics leading, 11-5.
The Celtics closed the quarter with a 9-0 run, highlighted by a Sam Hauser three, then a Hauser steal that led to a Tatum breakaway, then a Tatum steal and score. Boston led, 28-18 after one.
Tatum started taking it to the basket in the second and a 3-point play by JT gave the Celts a 15-point (46-31) lead with seven minutes left in the half. Pritchard played only four seconds of the half, but his 49-footer at the buzzer made it 67-46 at intermission.
A three by 38-year-old Al Horford (first ring after a million playoff games) early in the third pushed the lead to 25 and it peaked at 26.
All in all, it was a nice response to Friday’s 122-84 beatdown in Dallas.
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd taunted the Celtics after that game.
“Our group was ready to go,” sniffed Kidd. “They were ready to celebrate.”
It was embarrassing, no doubt, yet another test of Celtics fans who’d grown impatient with the two Jays. It was one more example of the Celtics channeling Tina Turner in her legendary “Proud Mary,” intro when she said, “We never ever, do nothing nice and easy.”
The Texas Chain Saw massacre was, fact, the third-worst beatdown in Finals history, but veteran Celtics fans know enough not to let one blowout define a series.
We remember the Larry Bird Celts beating the Lakers, 148-114, in Game 1 in 1985, then losing the series in six games. A year earlier, the Celts were routed, 137-104, in Game 3 in LA,, but won three of the next four and visited Ronald Reagan in the Rose Garden one day after clinching banner No. 15 in the old Boston Garden.
Game 5 of these Finals was graduation day and utter redemption for the two Jays.
They’ve played together in the conference finals five times and this was their second NBA Finals in three seasons. They forced a conference finals Game 7 last year after falling behind the Heat, 3-0, but Tatum turned his ankle early in the finale and scored only 14 points (shooting 5 for 13) in a 103-84 slaughter. Brown was worse, making only 1 of 9 threes and committing eight turnovers.
That loss convinced Boston basketball boss Brad Stevens to shake up the roster. It was “goodbye” Marcus Smart, Robert Williams III, Grant Williams and Malcolm Brogdon. “Hello” Porzingis and Holiday.
And now, eight years after Danny Ainge (protege and grandson of Auerbach) drafted Brown, and seven years after he picked Tatum, the two Jays are in the club with Cooz and Satch, Larry and Max, and KG and Paul Pierce.
They have ascended to the mountaintop.
They are NBA Champions.
