Cue the duck boats: Boston salutes Celtics' record 18th NBA championship with parade

BOSTON (AP) — The Celtics entered the season vowing to turn recent playoff heartbreaks into happiness.

Eight months later, they toasted the franchise’s 18th championship in what has become the signature Boston celebration, joined Friday by a huge crowd for a duck boat parade to mark the 13th championship won this century by one of the city’s franchises in the four biggest U.S. sports leagues.

The Celtics, Patriots, Red Sox and Bruins have all commemorated championships by jumping aboard the duck boats — amphibious vehicles usually ridden by sightseeing tourists.

In Boston, firing up the boats for a slow cruise down city streets has become synonymous with its feeling of sports supremacy. Friday's parade was the latest component of what has been a rolling salute to the Celtics since they finished off the Dallas Mavericks in five games in the NBA Finals on Monday night.

Starting at TD Garden, the procession lasted about 90 minutes, turning first onto Causeway Street in front of the arena, past City Hall, through Boston Common, down Boylston Street and ending at Hynes Convention Center.

Along the way, there were plenty of moments for the city to salute a franchise that just broke a tie with the rival Los Angeles Lakers for the most titles in league history. Fans marked the moment by hanging on light posts, flashing homemade signs or standing on subway entrances.

“It’s unbelievable. It still doesn’t seem true. But just trying to stay in the moment,” All-Star Jayson Tatum said during a pre-parade rally at the Garden.

Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck gave fans an early treat about 90 minutes before the trade began.

He was attempting to drive to the arena with the Larry O'Brien Trophy and newly made 2024 championship banner along with his wife, Emilia Fazzalari, and their daughter.

They couldn’t get through because of traffic and barricades. So they walked a half-mile down Causeway Street, passing by a sea of fans while carrying the trophy and banner.

Inside the Garden, the rally included players and their family members, members of the Celtics organization, arena staff, season ticket holders and guests including Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

After celebrating in the locker room Monday night by spraying Champagne and posing for pictures with the trophy, the team flew to Miami for a private party.

When the Celtics returned Wednesday, coach Joe Mazzulla took the party back to people, allowing fans to see the trophy up close — and in some cases touch it — while he carried it through Boston’s famed North End.

“I drove all the way from Ohio (Wednesday) because we were coming for the parade,” Celtics fan Jason Hawkins told Boston’s ABC affiliate, WCVB-TV. “I touched trophy, man. I got video of it.”

The golden basketball was on display for all to see Friday as players, flanked by Celtics personnel and members of their families, waved and interacted with fans.

The Celtics broke every huddle this season by saying, “Together.”

Jaylen Brown said Friday the theme for this year’s team was unity.

“Whatever it took for us to win, that’s what I was willing to do,” Brown said.

As much as the day was a celebration of that team-first mantra that Mazzulla championed this season, it was also the culmination of mission that stars Brown and Tatum began after each was drafted third overall — Brown in 2016 and Tatum a year later.

The duo made it to four conference finals and one NBA Finals — a loss to the Golden State Warriors in 2022 — before finally reaching the league pinnacle. Brown earned Finals MVP honors, which he said also belonged to his “partner in crime.”

While the city had to wait nearly two decades for this celebration, the Celtics are in a solid position to try to become the NBA’s first back-to-back champions since the Warriors in 2018.

All five starters — Tatum, Brown, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Kristaps Porzingis — are under contract for next season. After having secured long-term extensions with Brown, Holiday and Porzingis, the Celtics are expected to do the same with Tatum and White this summer.

Reserve Luke Kornet didn't let fans forget the Celtics' history of titles, leading fans on a count from one to 18 at the end of the parade route.

Their message to the city is clear: Keep the duck boats gassed up.

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Boston Celtics cheerleaders celebrate the team's NBA basketball championship win during a duck boat parade Friday, June 21, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

The Boston Celtics celebrate their NBA basketball championship win with a duck boat parade Friday, June 21, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Boston Celtics' Al Horford celebrates the teams NBA basketball championship win during a duck boat parade Friday, June 21, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Boston Celtics' Payton Pritchard, right, celebrates the team's NBA basketball championship during a duck boat parade Friday, June 21, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Boston Celtics' Derrick White, right, celebrates the team's NBA basketball championship during a duck boat parade Friday, June 21, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Rusty Dillenger, of Quincy, Mass., sells souvenirs in Copley Square before the Boston Celtics NBA basketball championship celebration parade Friday, June 21, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum celebrates the team's NBA basketball championship during a duck boat parade Friday, June 21, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Boston Celtics' Kristaps Porzingis celebrates with fans during team's NBA basketball championship duck boat parade Friday, June 21, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Boston Celtics' Kristaps Porzingis, center wearing the Celtics medallion, gestures to fans along the NBA championship team's duck boat parade Friday, June 21, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Boston Celtics NBA basketball championship MVP Jaylen Brown, center, celebrates during a duck boat parade Friday, June 21, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum celebrates the team's NBA basketball championship during a duck boat parade Friday, June 21, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Boston Celtics fans react following the Celtics victory over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the NBA basketball finals in Boston on Monday, June 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Boston Celtics center Al Horford, center, and forward Jayson Tatum, front center left, celebrate with teammates near the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy after winning the NBA championship with a Game 5 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A small Texas university has gone to court to object to the $2.77 billion settlement proposal that would erase a set of antitrust claims against the NCAA and the nation's largest conferences and clear the way for schools to begin steering millions of dollars directly to athletes as soon as fall 2025.

Houston Christian filed its motion in federal court in California, arguing the settlement would divert funds from academics and marginalized and underserved populations as well as putting big-money college sports the over the needs of non-athlete students. The school contends its interests were not represented during settlement talks despite being an NCAA member.

Officials at smaller schools across the NCAA noted they were not consulted or informed about settlement details before they were announced last month and have said the financial impacts for them could be dire. The court filing by Houston Christian is first known official objection to the proposal, which will need approval from U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken to take effect.

Tyler Boyd, Houston Christian’s general counsel, said there could be more objections on the way.

“I think for other people that look into this case, it’s going to raise an issue of fiduciary responsibility,” Boyd said this week. “And whenever there’s a fiduciary responsibility issue raised, that goes to the core mission of the university, and are we living out the core mission of the university.”

The plan is intended to settle a host of federal antitrust claims and also clears the way for schools to share revenue with athletes, a dramatic step that all but ends the NCAA's longstanding amateurism model.

The defendants in the case included the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Bit 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern conferences but also the NCAA, whose vast membership includes 1,100 schools that have athletic departments of varying sizes and budgets to match.

The NCAA will cover 41% of the $2.77 billion total — largely by lowering its annual payments to its member schools over 10 years — while the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC will cover 24%. The next five largest college football conferences (American Athletic, Mid-American, Conference USA, Mountain West ands Sun Belt) will cover 10%.

The remaining quarter of the total will be covered by non-football conferences in Division I and by conferences that compete in the second tier of D-I football, the Championship Subdivision. Houston Christian is a member of the latter group, competing in the Southland Conference that has 10 schools and some 4,200 athletes.

“Even now, without the proposed settlement, NCAA member institutions annually lose untold millions of dollars by participating in Division I sports. Only a select few ever generate enough revenue from athletics to cover their expenses,” the school said in its motion to intervene — formally take part — in the case. “The proposed settlement institutionalizes the diversion of money that would otherwise inure to the member institutions for the core mission of education and research, by requiring them to pay damages for athletes’ name, image, and likeness and establishing a continuing formula for doing so on a go-forward basis.”

HCU said 95% of its approximately 2,500 students receive financial aid. Boyd said Houston Christian believes someone has to look out for smaller schools with limited resources.

“I think it’s certainly unprecedented, and this is uncharted territory,” he said. “And the reason for the intervention is really just to have our voice be heard during these unprecedented times.”

Boyd said he wouldn’t be surprised to see other challenges from smaller schools or others looking to join Houston Christian's fight. He said the case is not anti-athlete, but rather is in favor of supporting regular students.

“Those institutions are going to have to look at this case," he said. “And it’s certainly up to them if they would want to get involved with our intervention.”

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

FILE - In this April 25, 2018, file photo, the NCAA headquarters is shown in Indianapolis. Houston Christian University's U.S. district court case might be just the beginning of the challenges the NCAA and the major conferences will face as they sort out how their schools will be able to potentially pay athletes. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)