Top 10 moments from the Boston Celtics' 2024 championship run

We are less than a month away from preseason Celtics basketball, but many Boston fans are still basking in the glory of the Banner 18 run. After all, the Celtics made history with one of the most dominant postseasons ever. The NBA champions were never pushed past five games in a series and went 16-3 in the playoffs.

The Celtics will open the 2024-25 season as heavy favorites to repeat their championship run, having brought back their entire core and all of their important rotational pieces. The world champs are as well-positioned for a possible back-to-back effort.

Despite the straightforward nature of their title run, the Celtics gave their fans plenty of memorable postseason moments to look back on. From superstars sinking clutch shots to role players making momentum-shifting plays, everyone on the Banner 18 roster gave the fans something to remember.

Top 10 moments from the Boston Celtics 2024 championship run

Honorable Mentions: Celtics-Heat Beef

The champs kept their cool throughout the playoffs, but they never hesitated to stick up for their teammates. Certain Celtics stuck their chests out and did so with authority.

In Game 1 of the playoffs against the Miami Heat, Jayson Tatum hit the deck hard when Caleb Martin crashed into him while going for an offensive rebound. The play seemed unnecessary and dirty, and Jaylen Brown didn’t let it slide.

Seeing Tatum get up so quickly after landing hard on his back had Celtics fans both pumped and relieved. Brown simultaneously shoved Martin aside and got in his grill, bringing the TD Garden spectators to their feet.

The Celtics-Heat rivalry remains one of the greatest in the sport, and this year’s matchup continued that trend despite a less competitive series than usual. The series also taught the rest of the NBA not to body-check Brown’s teammates.

Big Al sticks up for Jayson Tatum 

Tatum was once again the recipient of an unnecessarily dirty play in Game 4. Bam Adebayo, one of Tatum’s closest friends off the court, recklessly closed out on a JT practice jumper after a play was whistled dead. Tatum rolled his ankle on Adebayo’s foot, which left him in considerable pain.

An angry Al Horford ran to help Tatum and sent Adebayo a message by bumping him to the side. In his post-game interview, Big Al expressed how he felt about Adebayo jumping into his teammate’s landing space on a shot that didn’t even count.

“I know he’s trying to compete over there, but I was just mad,” Horford said. “I don’t want to see any of my guys get hurt or anything like that. Thankfully, JT’s fine, but it could have been bad.”

In that same Game 4 showdown, Tatum got some sweet revenge on Martin for his Game 1 antics. The All-NBA superstar put Martin on a poster with a ferocious dunk, mean-mugging and trash-talking in the direction of his victim as he walked away.

Celtics fans especially appreciated Tatum’s baptism of Martin after the insane performance Martin put together in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals to beat Boston. There was a cathartic sense of justice in Tatum’s vengeful slam over Martin, and only C’s fans truly understand why it felt that way.

These moments didn’t quite make the Top 10, but we couldn’t leave them out. Celtics vs. Heat gave fans some great on-court highlights, but the series especially reminded the basketball world of something very clear: Boston and Miami do not like each other.