BOSTON — The lifespan of confetti comes in three stages. Monday’s tiny cuts of white and green paper began streaming toward the TD Garden rafters, where an 18th championship banner will soon join the others and assorted retired numbers, after Boston clinched the 2024 NBA title with a 106-88 Game 5 victory over Dallas. It blasted from eight different cannons along the baselines after Celtics assistant Sam Cassell dead-on sprinted across the parquet to corral the game ball.
The confetti just rises from there. Instant, expected, like a five-star prospect such as Jayson Tatum, who played his college ball at Duke and who’s now made first-team All-NBA each of the past three seasons and is therefore expected to compete for rings.