Boston jumped all over Dallas early and often in Monday’s Game 5 of the NBA Finals, coasting to a 106-88 win to secure the franchise’s NBA-record 18th championship and its first since 2008. The Celtics easily covered the spread as seven-point home favorites, while the 194 combined points dropped ‘under’ the 211-point total.

The ‘under’ went 5-0 in the series.

Boston ran out to a 28-18 lead at the end of the first quarter and extended it to 21 points by halftime after outscoring the Mavericks 39-28 in the second stanza.

Jayson Tatum was the catalyst with 31 points, eight rebounds, two steals and 11 assists compared to only two turnovers. He buried 11-of-24 field-goal attempts and all eight of his free throws.

Jaylen Brown scored 21 points to go with eight boards, a pair of steals and six assists compared to just one turnover. He won NBA Finals MVP honors after having +155 odds going into the best-of-seven showdown.

Jrue Holiday, who also won an NBA title with Milwaukee several years ago, finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and one blocked shot. Derrick White added 14 points and eight rebounds, while Al Horford contributed nine points, nine rebounds, two steals and two assists without a turnover.

Horford, the five-time All-Star who was playing in the postseason for the 16th time in his 17-year career, finally won his first NBA ring, adding to his jewelry collection after winning a pair of national titles at Florida in 2006 and 2007 during his days as a college player.

In the losing effort, Luka Doncic had 28 points, 12 rebounds and three steals, but he had more turnovers (seven) than assists (five) and went 2-of-9 from 3-point land.

In his first career NBA Finals appearances, Doncic had a forgettable series despite averaging 29.2 points per game. He had a 28/22 assist-to-turnover ratio, shot an abysmal 24.4 percent from 3-point territory and made merely 58.6 percent of his free throws.

Kyrie Irving had 15 points and nine assists, while Josh Green scored 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from downtown. Derrick Jones Jr. was the only other Dallas player in double figures with 10 points.

Irving averaged only 19.8 PPG in the Finals against Boston after scoring at a 27.0 PPG clip vs. Minnesota in the West finals. He made only 27.6 percent of his treys in the five-game series.

FanDuel has the Celtics as +300 ‘chalk’ to win the 2025 NBA Finals. The next-shortest odds belong to Denver (+750), Minnesota (+850), Dallas (+900), Milwaukee (+1000 or 10/1), OKC (10/1), Philadelphia (16/1), New York (16/1), the L.A. Clippers (28/1), Miami (30/1) and Phoenix (30/1).