AP/Ringer illustration With another undeniable performance in the 2024 NBA Finals, the Celtics closed out the Dallas Mavericks, won their record 18th title, capped off a season of wire-to-wire supremacy, and cemented their status among the best squads of all time In the end, the Boston Celtics' greatest competition in the 2023-24 season turned out to be themselves. It certainly wasn't any opponent during the regular season, when the Celtics posted a 64-18 record with a historically great point differential. It wasn't the injury-ravaged Miami Heat in the first round, or the undermanned Cleveland Cavaliers in the second, or the happy-to-be-there Indiana Pacers in a conference finals sweep. It wasn't even Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and the Dallas Mavericks in the Finals, where Boston never trailed in four of five fourth quarters. No, the Celtics' greatest competition was an intrasquad battle—not on the scoreboard, but for awards, as Jaylen Brown bested Jayson Tatum in a friendly game of tug-of-war for the Finals MVP trophy, aptly named after Celtic icon Bill Russell. Boston was so much better than every opponent it faced that it had to stretch to drum up some drama along the way to...