BOSTON (WHDH) - While Celtics players celebrated in the locker room Monday night, Dorchester native Donnie Wahlberg shared his excitement over the team’s NBA championship with 7’s Morey Hershgordon.
Wahlberg was one of several celebrities in attendance at Game 5 as the Celtics marched past Dallas for their 18th title.
“If I liked to gamble, I would have made a lot of money because I had Celtics in 5,” he said.
“The Celtics were their kryptonite,” he continued. “Their strength was the backcourt and our strength is our defensive backcourt and the size that we have on our wings who can also defend those guys.”
Boston punched its ticket to the finals after defeating Miami, Cleveland and the Indiana Pacers.
Dallas beat the LA Clippers, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves on their way to the finals.
“We weren’t a good matchup for Minnesota and Denver would have been tough,” Wahlberg said. “But you can’t win if you don’t get to the dance and we got to the dance and we won.”
Sixteen years to the day after stars including Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen led the Celtics to a championship in 2008, the current Celtics squad secured their big win after receiving their fair share of criticism in recent years.
Now, Wahlberg said he is optimistic about the future.
“This team is built to go on a run,” he said.
He lauded coach Joe Mazzulla and President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens.
He said Celtics players Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are “special guys.”
“A lot of the greats, they won when they were 27,” Wahlberg said. “Our guys are ahead of schedule. I don’t want to hear the criticism that they’re not championship mettle. They proved it.”
“It’s not going to be easy to do it again,” Wahlberg later added. “They’re going to have tougher competition next year. Other teams are coming up and there are already teams that are very capable of putting in seven tough games against this team. It’s going to be tough but I think they can do it.”
The Celtics’ Game 5 victory touched off a night of celebrations in Boston.
Celebrations are scheduled to continue later this week when the city honors its team with a rolling rally duck boat parade on Friday beginning at 11 a.m.
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