Legends are rising in Boston. They just need to finish one last chapter in the story

DALLAS -- It’s a beautiful day to win a championship. 

The sun is shining. Birds are chirping. The Dallas Mavericks are ready to call it a series. 

Sure, they gave the right quotes after Game 3 and during the Thursday practice session, but their halfhearted “we believe until the end” didn't fool anyone. 

The Celtics are 48 minutes away from a title, from exorcising the demons of their losses to Golden State in the Finals two years ago and Miami last season. 

“Last year, just falling short on your home floor, it definitely hurt. It was embarrassing, in my opinion,” Jaylen Brown said. “I felt like the team was relying on me. JT got hurt in Game 7 and I dropped the ball. To me, it was embarrassing. It drove me all summer, drove me crazy.”

Brown responded with the best regular season of his life and an even better playoffs. He already won the Eastern Conference Finals MVP and is in line for the Finals MVP as well. If it’s not him, it’ll probably be Jayson Tatum. 

“Maybe in recent years we took things for granted at some points or were happy to make it to certain rounds, where (now) we're not satisfied,” Tatum said. “Even now up 3-0, nobody is celebrating or anything. We still feel like there's a lot more that we can do. There's a lot more that we want to do.”

And there's a lot more that they can do, but that's another story for another time. They have to finish off this championship run before we talk about another one (spoiler alert: There will be another one)

As the Celtics gear up for what might be their coronation at the American Airlines Center, it’s time for the basketball world to stop looking for ways to cut these Celtics down and see this team for what it is. 

This team has dominated the regular season like few others. They have ripped through the playoffs and, if they win tonight, they will finish 80-20 this season. They are currently on a 10-game winning streak and they haven't lost a road game in the playoffs. 

When time has washed away the noise that surrounded this team all season like a May thunderstorm scrubbing pollen from the sky, this Celtics team will be remembered as one of the best teams the NBA has seen. People will forget the questions and only see the results. They will see Tatum and Brown with a more complete historical lens, perhaps with another ring or two on their resumes, and this title run will be a piece of a bigger picture. 

“You spend so much time and you go through so many things, the ups, the downs, the highs and the lows, and it creates that,” Brown said. “Those memories are memories that we're going to forever have together. So those are things that you're always going to carry with you. To be able to be in this moment, to potentially seal our first championship, I think that's awesome.”

Few legends are apparent right away. There aren’t many LeBron Jameses or Victor Wembanyamas coming along every year. Most of the time, legends are built through years of success and failure. No one new Gregg Popovich was going to be who he was. LeBron tried to get Erik Spoelstra fired in Miami. 

Legends rise, often through circumstance and serendipity. All we have to do is pay attention. 

Legends are rising in Boston. Tatum and Brown might make number distribution a bit harder for the Celtics a decade from now. And Joe Mazzulla can probably feel comfortable buying a bigger house in the area. 

The coaching this year has been phenomenal. The job done in Game 3, turning the Mavs roaming half zone behind Luka Doncic inside out to build a 21-point lead was incredible. That these guys are so connected, so disciplined, and so ready to sacrifice, is amazing. 

“Joe's mentality is fantastic,” Brown said. “Even today, one of my favorite quotes he said today, he was like, there's no such thing as a foul (in a war). Either you survive or you don't. Just that resonates with me because I like stuff like that.”

One of my own favorite ways to describe a season is that it’s all one book, with a bunch of chapters along the way. While a lot of people see each regular season game as its own story with a beginning, middle, and an end, they're all just part of the larger tale. The story isn’t finished until there are no more games left to play. 

All the Celtics need to do is write the final few paragraphs and this book will be done. This story is almost finished. They just need a great closing line.

“You're never promised to make it back to the Finals,” Tatum said. “I think each and every person this year has came into the season with a different mindset. I think it has truly shown that we don't take things for granted, and we approach every single day the same.

“We're trying to get better, and we're as hungry as we've ever been.”