Jayson Tatum was the star of the show as the Boston Celtics got past the Miami Heat in 7 games to reach the NBA Finals. The Celtics withstood a late rally from the Heat to win 100-96 and get to their first Finals since 2010. Tatum led the way in the series, as he averaged 25 points per game on 46% shooting from the field to go with 8.3 rebounds and 5.6 assists.
He was then awarded the first Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP and Celtic great Bill Russell praised Tatum for his incredible showing. Russell knows a thing or two about winning championships and he challenged Tatum to win the big prize, the Bill Russell Finals MVP award next:
Congratulations to the #EasternConferenceFinals champions @celtics & to #JasonTatum for receiving the 1st ever LarryBird #ECFmvp award. Maybe soon the #BillRussellFinalsMVP award #BleedGreen @NBA @espn pic.twitter.com/yIaZjfIZxa
— TheBillRussell (@RealBillRussell) May 30, 2022
“Congratulations to the #EasternConferenceFinals champions @celtics & to #JasonTatum for receiving the 1st ever LarryBird #ECFmvp award. Maybe soon the #BillRussellFinalsMVP award #BleedGreen @NBA @espn”
That’s a great picture right there and Russell, who won a record 11 NBA titles with the Celtics, knows that the job isn’t finished yet. It is a great honor to reach the Finals, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter unless you cash in and win it all. No one did it better than Russell, of course, who won 11 titles from 12 trips to the NBA’s grandest stage.
It is going to take another big series from Tatum for them to get over the line against the Golden State Warriors who are searching for their 4th title in the last 8 seasons. Steph Curry was just awarded the Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals MVP and he, along with the likes of Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Jordan Poole, pose a formidable challenge. The Celtics have managed to up their game during this postseason as and when the challenge has gotten tougher and they’ll need to do it again here.
