Monday night, the Boston Celtics overcame the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 to capture their record 18th NBA championship—one more than their erstwhile rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers.

“When you have few chances in life, you’ve got to take the bull by the horns and you’ve got to own it, and our guys owned it,” said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla at the trophy presentation ceremony.

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The Celtics, who led by 21 points at halftime and held a lead all night, made what many anticipated to be a challenging series look easy. It was never in doubt that the Celtics would win the series 4-1, even after the Mavericks won Game 4 by 38 points last Friday. The Celtics’ whole postseason, during which they dropped just three games, might be characterised similarly.

“We’ve responded all year and this was no different,” said Celtics forward Jayson Tatum after the game, when asked how the Game 4 blowout affected Monday night’s performance. “We owed our fans, it been a long journey. It’s been a long journey.”

Tatum—who was selected to the All-NBA first team for the third time this season—performed brilliantly, scoring 31 points, dishing out 11 assists, and snagging eight rebounds. The Celtics’ triumph happened precisely sixteen years after their 2008 NBA championship.

Jaylen Brown, who scored 21 points on the night, was awarded finals MVP.

“It was a full team effort and I’m going to share this with my brothers and my partner in crime Jayson Tatum, he was with me the whole way,” said Brown, before embracing Tatum.

The Celtics’ championship victory caps a string of close calls. In addition to their loss in the NBA finals two years ago, they had also lost in the conference finals four of the previous eight seasons.