BOSTON (AP) — After the Boston Celtics received their diamond-, emerald- and parquet-encrusted championship rings and before the franchise's 18th banner was raised to the rafters, Jayson Tatum grabbed a microphone to say a few words to the geeked-up crowd.
“Enjoy this moment together,” he told the fans who filled the TD Garden for the first meaningful Celtics game since their Game 5 victory over Dallas in the NBA Finals clinched an unprecedented 18th title. “Let’s do it again.”
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Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, center, admires his ring as the 2024 World Championship banner is raised prior to an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Boston. With Tatum are team owners Wyc Grousbeck, left, and Steve Pagliuca. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis, celebrates with team owner Steve Pagliuca during a ceremony where the 2024 NBA Championship banner was raised prior to an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
The Boston Celtics 2024 World Championship banner is raised prior to an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Boston Celtics general manager Brad Stevens, left, looks on as the 2024 World Championship banner is raised prior to an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown admires his ring as the 2024 World Championship banner is raised prior to an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
The Boston Celtics 2024 World Championship banner is raised prior to an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
FILE - Boston Celtics basketball banners are seen in the rafters at TD Garden, Wednesday, March. 27, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
FILE - 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, File)
FILE - Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, center, holds up the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy as he celebrates with the team after they won the NBA basketball championship with a Game 5 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, FIle)
Celtics celebrate their 18th NBA title with banner-raising and ring ceremony
Celtics celebrate their 18th NBA title with banner-raising and ring ceremony
"I planned something to say, but I got caught up in the moment,” Tatum said after the Celtics beat the New York Knicks 132-109. “I was overwhelmed, and the emotions got the best of me. I know we’re not supposed to talk about repeating. But the fans were just so excited, I said ‘(expletive) it. Let’s do it again.’”
The Celtics then gathered where so many of their predecessors had and raised the “2024 World Champions” banner to the crowded rafters. Minutes later, they took the floor for the season opener against the New York Knicks and left no doubts whether they were still motivated to become the first Celtics team to repeat since Bill Russell and John Havlicek won the franchise’s 11th title in 13 years in 1969.
Tatum hit a 3-pointer in the first seconds, and Boston tied an NBA record with 29 3's while opening a 35-point lead against the team that was supposed to be their top competition in the Eastern Conference.
“It was impressive to go from that, to that,” coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I was proud of the way they responded, from the ring ceremony to the game. The biggest thing I’m proud of was the mindset of the guys: They weren’t stuck in the past.”
The pregame ceremony nodded to the history of the league's most-decorated franchise, with 96-year-old Bob Cousy, a six-time NBA champion, and 1981 Finals MVP Cedric Maxwell coming out to applause before Paul Pierce — accompanied by fellow 2008 champions Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen — brought out the 2024 trophy. It was placed on a table surrounded by the championship rings.
“It’s like a full-circle moment for them to come back, and share that moment with us, and pass the torch,” Tatum said. "I’m still a fan of those guys. I remember they’re part of my childhood. That was an incredible moment, dapping it up with them.
“KG was screaming in my ear, and it was like, ‘Man, I’m really talking to Kevin Garnett right now,'” he said. “I'll never take those moments for granted. I think that is still cool, to be part of moments like that.”
Owner Wyc Grousbeck handed out the oversized rings, with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver congratulating the players as they walked out between the numbers of a giant, golden “18.” Mazzulla dropped to his knees to give the parquet floor a kiss before receiving his bauble.
“The parquet is blood, sweat and tears of the greats,” Mazzulla said. ”I don’t get to go out there and dive on the floor for loose balls like I’d love to. Doing that was just a way to express the passion and gratitude that I have for our team, for the people who have come before and just what it means to be a Celtic."
The centerpiece of the ring is a shamrock and “Celtics” against a field of emeralds. The top can be removed to reveal a piece of the famous floor, painted green and white with the 106-88 score of the June 17 clincher against the Mavericks. Also unveiled is an image of the championship banner, surrounded by the engraved numbers of each player on the roster.
The exterior of the ring is encircled with the years of the franchise’s 18 NBA titles. On one side is a depiction of the Larry O’Brien Trophy; on the other is the player's name, number and the slogan “Whatever It Takes” on a background of the parquet pattern etched into the gold.
The outer bezel has 18 larger diamonds for the team's 18 titles – one more than the archrival Lakers have won in Los Angeles and Minneapolis.
“When I got the ring, (I thought), ‘This thing is too big, I don’t know why it’s so big, and I’m never going to wear it. But it’s cool to have,” Mazzulla told reporters.
“I was more fascinated by the banner,” he said. “I come in here every afternoon and take a look at those. And they represent so much. And so the banner was a high note for me. The rafters have a life of their own in this building. So that moment was the coolest.”
The sold-out crowd arrived early to see the Celtics take the court in special warm-up jackets trimmed in gold, with 18 championship trophies embroidered on the sleeve. Some of the players paused their shooting to watch the video tracing their title journey, from the drafting of Jaylen Brown and Tatum through the acquisition of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis.
Another video featured highlights of Havlicek and Russell winning titles in the 1950s and ’60s through the pandemonium of the team's victory parade last spring.
"When we won, at first I was in shock. But today our emotions kind of settled in like, ‘Nah, we did it. We did something spectacular,'” Brown said. “My name -- alongside my teammates' -- is going to be etched down in Celtics history, which is one of the biggest franchises in not just basketball, in sports.
“You can never take that from anybody that was on that team last year.”
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Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, center, admires his ring as the 2024 World Championship banner is raised prior to an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Boston. With Tatum are team owners Wyc Grousbeck, left, and Steve Pagliuca. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis, celebrates with team owner Steve Pagliuca during a ceremony where the 2024 NBA Championship banner was raised prior to an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
The Boston Celtics 2024 World Championship banner is raised prior to an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Boston Celtics general manager Brad Stevens, left, looks on as the 2024 World Championship banner is raised prior to an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown admires his ring as the 2024 World Championship banner is raised prior to an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
The Boston Celtics 2024 World Championship banner is raised prior to an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
FILE - Boston Celtics basketball banners are seen in the rafters at TD Garden, Wednesday, March. 27, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
FILE - 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, File)
FILE - Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, center, holds up the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy as he celebrates with the team after they won the NBA basketball championship with a Game 5 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, FIle)
Celtics celebrate their 18th NBA title with banner-raising and ring ceremony
Celtics celebrate their 18th NBA title with banner-raising and ring ceremony
New Jersey Transit train engineers went on strike, leaving train terminals quiet for Friday's rush hour and an estimated 350,000 commuters in New Jersey and New York City to seek other means to reach their destinations or consider staying home.
Groups of picketers gathered in front of transit headquarters in Newark and at the Hoboken Terminal, carrying signs that said “Locomotive Engineers on Strike” and “NJ Transit: Millions for Penthouse Views Nothing for Train Crews.”
Friday’s rail commute into New York from New Jersey is typically the lightest of the week. In New York, some commuters from New Jersey said they could not work remotely and had to come in, taking busses to the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan.
David Milosevich, a fashion and advertising casting director, was on his way to a photo shoot in Brooklyn. At 1 a.m. he checked his phone and saw the strike was on.
“I left home very early because of it,” he said, grabbing the bus in Montclair, New Jersey, and arriving in Manhattan at 7 a.m. “I think a lot of people don’t come in on Fridays since COVID. I don’t know what’s going to happen Monday.”
The walkout comes after the latest round of negotiations on Thursday didn’t produce an agreement. It is the state’s first transit strike in more than 40 years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management.
“We presented them the last proposal; they rejected it and walked away with two hours left on the clock," said Tom Haas, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri described the situation as a “pause in the conversations.”
“I certainly expect to pick back up these conversations as soon as possible,” he said late Thursday during a joint news conference with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. “If they’re willing to meet tonight, I’ll meet them again tonight. If they want to meet tomorrow morning, I’ll do it again. Because I think this is an imminently workable problem. The question is, do they have the willingness to come to a solution.”
Murphy and Kolluri planned a Friday morning news conference.
A few blocks from the Port Authority bus terminal, the NJ Transit train terminal was quiet, with an NJ transit worker in an orange hoody on hand to warn riders it was closed, Signs read: “service suspended.”
The South Amboy train station, an express stop on the NJ Transit rail line, was vacant. But the Waterway ferry that began service only 18 months ago from a waterside launching point that’s a 10-minute walk from the train station was busier than usual for its 6:40 a.m., 55-minute nonstop trip to Manhattan.
The ferry runs once an hour during the morning and evening commutes. With about three dozen people aboard, more than half the seats in the ferry’s lower deck were empty.
Murphy said it was important to “reach a final deal that is both fair to employees and at the same time affordable to New Jersey’s commuters and taxpayers.”
"Again, we cannot ignore the agency’s fiscal realities,” Murphy said.
The announcement came after 15 hours of nonstop contract talks, according to the union.
NJ Transit — the nation’s third-largest transit system — operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout halts all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between New York City’s Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.
The agency had announced contingency plans in recent days, saying it planned to increase bus service, but warned riders that the buses would only add “very limited” capacity to existing New York commuter bus routes in close proximity to rail stations and would not start running until Monday.
However, the agency noted that the buses would not be able to handle close to the same number of passengers — only about 20% of current rail customers — so it urged people who could work from home to do so.
Earlier, even the thread of a strike caused travel disruptions. Amid the uncertainty, the transit agency canceled train and bus service for Shakira concerts Thursday and Friday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The parties met Monday with a federal mediation board in Washington to discuss the matter, and a mediator was present during Thursday’s talks. Kolluri said Thursday night that the mediation board has suggested a Sunday morning meeting to resume talks.
Wages have been the main sticking point of the negotiations between the agency and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen that wants to see its members earn wages comparable to other passenger railroads in the area. The union says its members earn an average salary of $113,000 a year and says an agreement could be reached if agency CEO Kris Kolluri agrees to an average yearly salary of $170,000.
NJ Transit leadership, though, disputes the union’s data, saying the engineers have average total earnings of $135,000 annually, with the highest earners exceeding $200,000.
Kolluri and Murphy said Thursday night that the problem isn’t so much whether both sides can agree to a wage increase, but whether they can do so under terms that wouldn’t then trigger other unions to demand similar increases and create a financially unfeasible situation for NJ Transit.
Congress has the power to intervene and block the strike and force the union to accept a deal, but lawmakers have not shown a willingness to do that this time like they did in 2022 to prevent a national freight railroad strike.
The union has seen steady attrition in its ranks at NJ Transit as more of its members leave to take better-paying jobs at other railroads. The number of NJ Transit engineers has shrunk from 500 several months ago to about 450.
Associated Press reporters Cedar Attanasio and Larry Neumeister in New York, Hallie Golden in Seattle and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.
An information screen informing commuters of the rail service suspension, due to the strike by Union members from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, inside Newark Penn Station on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
An information screen informing commuters of the rail service suspension, due to the strike by Union members from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, inside Newark Penn Station on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
An empty PATH train platform with an information screen informing commuters of the rail service suspension, due to the strike by Union members from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, inside Newark Penn Station on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Union members from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen form a picket line outside the NJ Transit Headquarters on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
An electronic display advises commuters of NJ Transit service disruptions at the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
An NJ Transit train pulls into the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
An electronic display advises commuters of potential NJ Transit service disruptions at the Secaucus Junction station in Secaucus, N.J., Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Union members from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen form a picket line outside the NJ Transit Headquarters on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Union members from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen form a picket line outside the NJ Transit Headquarters on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)