Simply hours after capturing the Larry O’Brien Trophy in a 106-88 Sport 5 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum walked the halls of Boston’s TD Gardens with a particular message for his childhood buddy and Florida Panthers ahead Matthew Tkachuk.
“Get it achieved tomorrow,” Tatum mentioned in a video posted to Instagram by the NBA. “One child from St. Louis received a championship in the present day, let’s make it two tomorrow.”
Tkachuk’s Panthers lead the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 within the Stanley Cup Ultimate and might clinch the franchise’s first championship with a win Tuesday evening.
Tatum helped propel Boston to their league-best 18th title in franchise historical past with an instrumental efficiency that left him with 31 factors and simply two assists shy of turning into the fifteenth participant to ever document a triple-double within the NBA Finals.
Tkachuk has helped the Panthers slender in on their first-ever Stanley Cup with 20 factors via his 21 appearances within the 2024 NHL playoffs and has a single help via 4 video games on this Stanley Cup Ultimate in opposition to the Oilers.
Tatum and Tkachuk had been classmates at Chaminade Faculty Preparatory Faculty in St. Louis and movies of the 2 pals hanging out as children have gone viral on social media throughout their parallel playoff runs this spring.
Each Florida and Boston’s remaining collection have adopted comparable paths this season, with the 2 groups hitting a wobble of their respective Sport 4s after pushing their opponents to the brink of elimination.
Tatum was in a position to assist carry his crew to a rebound win in Sport 5 that finally secured the franchise their first championship in 16 years.
Tkachuk will look so as to add a hoop of his personal in Sport 5 of the Stanley Cup Ultimate, Tuesday evening at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.