Celtics celebrating NBA title in . . . Miami; Haslem left with humbling moments at TD Garden

MIAMI — The salt into the wound became apparent moments after the Boston Celtics pushed past the Dallas Mavericks in Monday night’s Game 5 of the NBA Finals for the franchise’s 18th championship.

There, on the grease board inside the Celtics’ locker room at TD Garden were the words, “Noon FLT to Miami.”

Having vanquished the Heat in this year’s first round, and having struggled to a series loss to the Heat in last year’s Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics opted for South Florida as their celebratory spot even before their championship parade in Boston.

For the Heat, it proved to be personal on multiple levels Monday night as the NBA season came to a close, with former Heat captain and current team executive Udonis Haslem on site for NBA TV’s postgame coverage.

That had Haslem – who at the start of this past season created a buzz with his podcast comments about the audacity of the Heat placing the retired number of late Celtics center Bill Russell in the Kaseya Center rafters – in the middle of the green-and-white confetti, interviewing celebratory Celtics.

On the white board in Boston Celtics locker room: “Noon flight to Miami” pic.twitter.com/CWIbZS2hUG

— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) June 18, 2024

“It’s all good,” Haslem said, “we’ll be back.”

Haslem did get fellow University of Florida product Al Horford to discuss the  Gators connection of the two, including Horford’s son providing a Gators chomp.

“Go Gators,” Haslem said.

But it mostly was a moment of concession and congratulations for the Heat’s prime current rival.

Haslem said he saw from the Celtics’ leaders the steps required that helped Haslem share in three Heat championships, as well as multiple playoff series wins over Boston.

“Watching Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum grow up in front of my eyes, going back and forth with these guys so many times in the Eastern Conference finals, and having conversations with these guys, understanding it is a rivalry,” Haslem said. “But as an OG, nobody talks about the sleepless nights, nobody talks about the nights where you can’t sleep because you didn’t get it done.

“Everybody talks about the parade. But the nights that they went through, the pain that they went through, that helps us graduate to get to this point.”

Tatum addressed the Heat factor in his postgame comments.

“You know, over the last couple years, we had some tough losses at home in the playoffs,” he said. “We’ve lost the NBA championship at home in front of our fans. We had a chance to beat Miami in Game 6 a few years ago and lost that one.

“So to have a big win, the biggest win that you could have in front of your home crowd, I felt like that was really important to go out there and do everything in my power to make sure we won this game tonight.”

Haslem, whose Heat front-office position is on the developmental side and not the personnel side, gave ultimate credit to Celtics President Brad Stevens, who augmented Boston’s roster last summer with Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, at a time the Heat roster remained largely stagnant coming off the team’s NBA Finals appearance.

“How about Brad Stevens and the decisions that he made?” Haslem said, “You talk about the season that Boston had last year. Usually when a team gets to the Eastern Conference finals, you run it back. You don’t want to disrupt that chemistry. To go out and get a Porzingis and get a Jrue Holiday, and to basically give up a bag of chips and a soda?”

Haslem then noted that the players Boston dealt were not factors at their new locations this season – Rob William, Malcolm Brogdon and Marcus Smart.”

“The guys that got traded, they did not play,” Haslem said.

In addition to Haslem being on hand, former Heat championship guard Ray Allen, who had a falling out with the Celtics after his free agency departure to the Heat in 2012, also was at TD Garden amid the Celtics’ celebration.

Among those now in line for a Celtics championship ring is forward Drew Peterson, who was in summer league and training camp with the Heat, and then played for the Heat’s G League affiliate this season, before signing a two-way contract with Boston at midseason.