Jeff Van Gundy winning first NBA title with Celtics would just feel wrong

NBA

By Stefan Bondy

DALLAS — Listen, it’s not the equivalent of Wade Boggs taking a victory lap around Yankee Stadium on a horse. That’s an image of betrayal Bostonians took about eight years to get over — until their Red Sox fell in a 3-0 series hole in the 2004 ALCS and … never mind, too soon.

But it’ll still be difficult for Knicks faithful to see (or at least imagine) Jeff Van Gundy, a main character of the Knicks’ last golden era, getting his first NBA title with the friggin’ Celtics.

Van Gundy was unceremoniously dumped by ESPN before last season — a poor decision by the network exacerbated by the drifting minds of his replacements (Doc Rivers, JJ Redick). Van Gundy joined the Celtics as a senior consultant, labeled by coach Joe Mazzulla as “a huge weapon.”

And within his first season in Boston — after spending more than 12 years with the Knicks until 2001 — Van Gundy is a win away from receiving a ring. I’m guessing it will have a shamrock on it.

Doesn’t feel right.

The Celtics still have to win, of course. They had a chance to sweep the series Friday night in Dallas and laid a leprechaun egg. A 38-point defeat in the Finals isn’t supposed to happen, but the Celtics were flat, and Dallas was inspired at home.

Give credit to Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, who squeezed out his team’s best performance — especially defensively — while facing a 3-0 hole against a better team.

The Celtics hadn’t scored 84 points or fewer since last year’s Game 7 nightmare against the Heat. It was the worst Finals defeat in franchise history and the third-worst in league history.

“Our group was ready to go. They were ready to celebrate,” Kidd said. “We made a stand. We were desperate. We got to continue to keep playing that way, understand they’re trying to find a way to close the door.

“The hardest thing in this league is to close the door when you have a group that has nothing to lose. Tonight you saw that. They let go of the rope pretty early.”

But now the series and champagne shifts for Monday’s Game 5 to TD Garden, a place the Celtics went 45-6 this season, counting the playoffs. Kristaps Porzingis, the X factor, is creeping closer to a return from his leg injury.

For the Celtics to blow this series, they’ll have to lose twice at home. Jayson Tatum is known for choking, but losing the 2024 championship is unfathomable.

“Don’t harp on [Game 4] too much. It happened. We can’t change what happened,” Tatum said. “We always say: You lose by two or you lose by 30, they all count the same. But we do need to be better. We’re not making any excuses. We need to be better, and we will. We will be better.”

The Mavericks can still preach hope, however. No NBA team has ever recovered from the 3-0 series deficit Dallas faced before Friday, but a few climbed out of its current 3-1 predicament. Kyrie Irving, the Mavs point guard, certainly understands the possibility. He and LeBron James led the comeback in the 2016 Finals against the Warriors, one of the more improbable finishes in NBA history.

“Just by putting it into perspective what we’re up against. History is going to be made either way. We’d like to be on the right side of it,” Irving said. “It just comes from the same sentiment, same phrase I was using the other day: ‘Just putting our best foot forward.’ We felt like Game 3, we had a good chance to close out that game to at least put us in a competitive spot.

“Then we waited until Game 4 to ultimately play our best game. Took long enough for all of us to get to the party together and to play for each other the way we did tonight. But it’s definitely a possibility that we can replicate it. We understand we’re going against the same great Boston team that is going to make it tough. We’re going into their home den. We have another opportunity to extend the season. That’s all we can ask for. We handled our business [in Game 4]. But the job is still an uphill battle, and we understand that.”

Well stated, but it’s more like a Mount Everest climb equipped with just socks, underwear and a box of Pop Tarts. If the Mavs fail that daunting task, Van Gundy, who is reportedly drawing “strong interest” from the Clippers to join their coaching staff next season, finally gets his ring.

As Tom Thibodeau jokingly put it when asked about his former Knicks colleague joining the Celtics: “Disgusting!”