If the Boston Celtics are feeling unstoppable, well, it is because they have been exactly just that over the past several weeks. In fact, Boston has not lost since Game 2 of the second round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs versus Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers to the tune of a 118-94 score. That loss served as a wakeup call for Boston, which has since stitched together eight wins in a row, including Thursday night’s 107-89 thumping of Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals.
After disposing of the Cavaliers in five games, Boston went on to rip the Indiana Pacers apart in just four games in a cakewalk of an Eastern Conference finals series for Jayson Tatum and company. And with Boston winning Game 1 against the Mavs, they have just set a new franchise record that no Celtics team touched in nearly 40 years, as noted by play-by-play man Sean Grande.
“Another franchise record. The Game 1 Finals win is the 8th consecutive playoff win for the Boston Celtics. That breaks the record (7) set by the ’86 NBA champions,” Grande wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
So, let’s have a little walk down memory lane to remember what Larry Bird and the Celtics did during that incredible run in the 1986 NBA Playoffs.
That year, Boston met a guy named Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the first round and swept them in three games. In the second round, Boston won the first three games of their series against the Atlanta Hawks, who then snapped the Celtics’ six-game undefeated streak to start that postseason. But after that, Bird and the Celtics finished the Hawks in Game 5 and then proceeded to sweep the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals.
Boston then carried a five-game win streak to the NBA Finals where they met the Houston Rockets. The Celtics took the first two games of that matchup before Houston took Game 3, snapping Boston’s seven-game undefeated run. For almost four decades, that streak remained unsurpassed in franchise history.
Celtics took care of business in Game 1
Fast forward to 2024, the Celtics broke that record thanks to their incredible performance on Thursday night at TD Garden. Kristaps Porzingis, a former Mavericks star, showed the way early for the Celtics, coming off the bench in the first quarter and hitting all the right notes for Boston. After Porzingis set the tone, the rest of the Celtics got it rolling for the rest of the contest.
Porzingis finished with 20 points to go with six rebounds and three blocks in his first game back since the first-round series against the Miami Heat. To some extent, it feels poetic for Boston to win all those games in the second round and the East finals and be on the verge of breaking the 1986 Celtics without Porzingis and then actually break it in his first game back from injury.
Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown led the scoring for Boston in Game 1 with 22 points to go with six boards, two assists, and three blocks. Perhaps the biggest hero for the Celtics in Game 1 was not an individual but an intangible one — their defense. Boston held Luka Doncic and the Mavs to only 89 points, 41.7 percent shooting from the field, and 25.9 percent success rate from behind the arc.
But at the end of the day, what would matter the most for the Celtics is the completion of their goal which is no other than an NBA title.
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