Sept. 25: Inside Look at Boston and WNBA Semifinals Rematch Set

Jaylen Brown and the Celtics brought some hardware to their 2024-25 Media Day.

THE LINEUP

What’s inside today’s edition?

New Season, Same Goal: Celtics embrace the expectations entering 2024-25

Quotables: How the C’s celebrated their title this summer

On The Ground In Boston: The Celtics mixed business with fun at Media Day

W Playoffs: Finals rematch set for the Semis, plus preview tonight’s ESPN doubleheader

Nat’s Finals Frames: 10 times Nathaniel S. Butler perfectly captured a championship moment

BUT FIRST … ⏰

Hit the lab with Holmgren … and lock in for a W Playoff doubleheader

Go behind the scenes with Thunder star Chet Holmgren as he hones his game in a private workout ahead of the 2024-25 season.

An ESPN WNBA Playoff doubleheader features the Sun and Lynx looking for sweeps, while the Fever and Mercury try to force Game 3s.

On Thursday, the Denver Nuggets host their Media Day (11 am ET, Live in the NBA App), before taking on the Celtics in the NBA Abu Dhabi Games on Oct. 4 & 6.

1. NEW SEASON, SAME GOAL: CELTICS EMBRACE EXPECTATIONS

“When you lose, it’s hard,” said Jaylen Brown at Celtics Media Day Tuesday. “Year after year, we were close. But those were years, my heart was broken … This summer, my heart wasn’t broken.”

Last year, the Celtics entered Media Day coming off a Game 7 loss in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals at TD Garden — the same building where the Warriors hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2022.

On Tuesday, Boston entered Media Day as the reigning NBA champions, four weeks away from raising a record 18th banner into the TD Garden rafters.

Brown: “You spent your whole life dreaming to be a champion … [That] was just something that I’ve manifested for a long time.”Jayson Tatum:

“I think the important thing is being proud of what we did last season. Last year was amazing. We were an incredible team and we made history.”

But now, a new journey begins for the Celtics, who echoed their coach Joe Mazzulla by describing this season as a 2025 title chase rather than a 2024 title defense.

Tatum: “This year, we’re not feeling like we necessarily have to defend the title. But we’re trying to go win it. We had a target on our backs the last couple of years, nothing has changed in that aspect.”“If anything, we know how great it felt to win

and what it took, and we’re trying to go win again.”

The challenge of winning back-to-back titles is familiar to Jrue Holiday, who won the 2021 Finals with the Bucks before capturing a second ring in Boston.

When asked about those challenges, both Holiday — and Brown — drew parallels between this year’s expectations and the pressure they faced last season, when Boston finished with an 80-21 record (regular season and Playoffs), the 13th-best mark in NBA history.

Their key to meeting those expectations? Facing them head-on as a team, again.

“People see us at the top of the mountain now,” said Holiday. “I think last year they saw that too. At the end of the day, I think we have to keep our circle tight and fight together.”Brown: “The year before when we lost, it was the lowest of the low … Now, it feels like the same kind of deal but the opposite end of the spectrum … You can either go one way or the other.”“When you’re at the top,

you can either push through or go down … I’m excited to go through the journey with them.”

2. QUOTABLES: C’S SUMMER RECAP

The C’s are gearing up for another title push in 2024-25. But, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t reminisce on their championship summer at media day.

“I don’t want to state the obvious, but we won a championship,” said Jaylen Brown with a grin. “That’s what made me have an awesome summer.”

For 17-year veteran Al Horford, the title unlocked a long-awaited celebration after playing in 186 career playoff games before winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy — the most of any player in NBA history.

Al’s Moment: After becoming the first Dominican-born player to win an NBA title, Horford stamped his title tour by bringing Larry back to the DR with family and friends“Man, it was crazy,”

Horford said Tuesday. “Just bringing it to DR was an unbelievable feeling … I was very grateful for that, very happy to be able to share that moment.”

Meanwhile, two-time champ Jrue Holiday noted the significance of delivering a title to Beantown.

Holiday: “Walking outside and doing things, people still saying ‘Thank you’ and feeling like they’re a part of it, which they were … Loudest crowd I’ve ever been a part of.”

Holiday also earned himself an Olympic gold medal this summer with USA Men’s Basketball alongside Jayson Tatum and Derrick White, who both reached extensions with Boston this offseason.

Despite all the action, White needed just four words to sum up his summer…

Championship. Extension. Gold Medal.”

And while Tatum had quite the offseason himself, the five-time NBA All-Star, two-time Olympic gold medalist and reigning NBA champion believes the best is yet to come.

Tatum: “Overall, I feel like I can still get better … You haven’t seen the best version of Jayson Tatum.”

3. ON THE GROUND AT CELTICS MEDIA DAY

The Boston Celtics were the final team on an NBA court last season, soaking in the moment of championship No. 18 on the confetti-strewn court at TD Garden.

One hundred days later, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and the rest of the Celtics put the jerseys on again as the first team to hold Media Day on Tuesday at their practice facility – the Auerbach Center.

This year’s Media Day brought its usual mix of business and fun. Players took their official headshots and spoke with the local and national media — answering some thought-provoking questions and some on the more lighthearted side.

For example, here’s GM Brad Stevens discussing the invaluable leadership that Al Horford and Jrue Holiday provide: “If you truly want to talk about the best vet leadership in the league, there’s no one way anybody’s got us beat there… because [Horford and Holiday] are as good as it gets.”And later, the aforementioned Horford discussed his infamous Cowboy hat look from the Celtics championship paradeSpeaking of looks, reigning Finals MVP Jaylen Brown is starting the new season without his signature beard, but promised that it will be coming backDerrick White decided to move from in front of the camera to behind the lens as he showed off his photography skillsWhite was snapping a headshot of Luke Kornet, who is in charge of bestowing the new nickname for the bench crew. But he’s taking his time to make sure to get it right. “It’s got to come organically, you can’t force these things… it’s kind of like falling in love.”Just like the first day of school,

the first day of the season means it’s time to

show off the new kicks

as Tatum unveiled the new “Welcome to the Garden” edition of his Jordan JT3s

4. WNBA PLAYOFFS: FINALS REMATCH SET FOR SEMIFINALS

The Rematch Is Set: With New York’s win over Atlanta and Las Vegas’ win over Seattle, the Liberty and Aces swept their respective first-round series and are set to clash in the best-of-five semifinals, beginning Saturday in Brooklyn (time and TV info TBD).

Let’s break down how this 2023 Finals rematch came to be.

Liberty 91, Dream 82 (NY wins series 2-0)

Sabrina’s Night: Sabrina Ionescu scored 12 of her playoff career-high 36 points in the 4th as the Liberty overcame a slow start to close out the Dream. Sabrina added nine dimes and five 3s, while Jonquel Jones posted a double-double (20 pts, 13 reb) in the winNY’s Finest:

Ionescu’s 36 points tied Cappie Pondexter’s Liberty record for most points in a playoff game — which also came against the Dream in 2010. Sabrina joined Cappie and Angel McCoughtry as the only players with 35+ pts and 5+ ast in a Playoff game

Aces 83, Storm 76 (LV wins series 2-0)

KP & A’ja Show: Kelsey Plum scored a game-high 29 points (11-15 FG, 2-6 3P) while A’ja Wilson posted a double-double (24 pts, 13 reb, 2 blk) as the Aces outlasted the Storm to advanceStorm Turnaround Season Ends:

No team made a bigger leap in wins from 2023 (11-29) to 2024 (25-15) than the Storm, but Gabby Williams (20 pts), Nneka Ogwumike (16 pts, 10 reb) and Skylar Diggins-Smith (13 pts, 10 ast) couldn’t overcome Seattle’s slow start

Tonight’s ESPN doubleheader features another pair of Game 2s as Connecticut and Minnesota look to join New York and Vegas in the Semifinals.

Fever at Sun (7:30 ET, ESPN)

Can AT Do It All, Again? In Game 1, Alyssa Thomas recorded her fourth career playoff triple-double (12 pts, 10 reb, 13 ast), giving her two-thirds of the triple-doubles in postseason history. Thomas has racked up 15 triple-doubles – in just the past three seasons – to dominate the categoryClark Bounce Back Game? After a record-breaking regular season, rookie phenom Caitlin Clark was held to 11 points and eight dimes (4-17 FG) in her playoff debut. Since June 1, Clark and the Fever are 10-2 following a loss

Mercury at Lynx (9:30 ET, ESPN)

M-V-Phee: Napheesa Collier finished as the runner-up in the MVP race, but showed out in Game 1, scoring a career-best 38 points (regular season or postseason) to put the Lynx within a game of winning their first playoff series since 2020If This Is It:

In their regular season finale, the

Mercury celebrated the career of Diana Taurasi

in what could be her final home game. While Dee has yet to make an announcement about her future, the Mercury need a win tonight to ensure at least one more playoff game for Taurasi in the Valley

5. NAT BUTLER COLLECTION: 10 ICONIC FINALS PHOTOS

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. And photographer Nathaniel S. Butler hasn’t needed to lift a pencil to write his NBA story.

In his book “COURTSIDE: 40 Years of NBA Photography,” Butler’s legendary work comes into focus, encapsulating some of the greatest moments in NBA history.

In celebration of the book’s release on Tuesday, we’re sharing 10 of Butler’s timeless images from the sport’s biggest stage.