DALLAS — In addition to airing every game of the 2024 NBA Finals on our station, WFAA is also hosting a special presentation called "The Pregame" before each and every matchup in the series. Head here for more information.
With apologies to Green Bay, Wisconsin, which claimed the name Titletown, USA in the 1960s when Vince Lombardi was leading the Packers to unforeseen successes in the NFL, the title "Titletown" has perhaps been usurped by Boston, Massachusetts since the turn of the century.
The Boston area has crowned a champion in each of the four major men’s sports leagues since the New England Patriots broke through to begin the Tom Brady era in 2001. Those Patriots, of course, lead the way with six championships over the last 24 years, the most in professional sports, but the Boston Red Sox aren’t far behind with four titles, beginning with their first in 2004 after a torturous wait.
The Boston Bruins lifted the Stanley Cup following the 2010-11 season, and then the Boston Celtics beat the archrival Los Angeles Lakers to claim their 17th championship in 2008. Since then, the Lakers have won three championships to equal Boston’s 17, a thorn in the nouveau Titletown’s side.
It is with that backdrop that the Celtics will attempt to reclaim their lead in Larry O’Brien trophies and continue Boston’s charmed run of championships. To do so, they will be tasked with defeating the Dallas Mavericks.
Dallas is currently on a nice run of success with their franchises as well. The Stars won as recently as 1999, returned to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2020, and have been in the Western Conference Finals the last two seasons. Arlington’s Texas Rangers most recently won the World Series, their first ever championship.
There’s also the Cowboys who we will generously note have won at least 12 games in a season for the first time since their heyday back in the early 1990s.
And here are the Mavericks, a team that shocked the NBA in 2011 to win their first title to solidify Dirk Nowitzki’s legacy, now attempting to do the same in wunderkind Luka Doncic’s first Finals.
A showdown in meaningful games has been fairly rare between these two areas – indeed it has never happened in a playoffs setting – which means these Finals bring extra intrigue and an opportunity for two sports-rich cities to finally clash.
While the rivalry between the two cities has yet to be built, there is still some shared history between the regions intertwined in their respective pasts.
Cowboys & Patriots
The Dallas Cowboys are 9-6 all time against the New England Patriots but none, of course, have come in the postseason with Dallas playing in the NFC and New England playing in the AFC.
For years, pundits and fans awaited Dallas’ ascension back to the Super Bowl with a potential tantalizing matchup against Brady and the Pats. That never came. Instead, it was the NFC East rival New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles who defeated Brady’s Patriots three separate times to lift the Lombardi Trophy.
The Cowboys have lost only once in franchise history to the Patriots – in 1999 – in a game not started by Tom Brady, but lost every game played against New England with Brady under center. Dallas did get a little revenge on Brady by beating him in his final ever contest with a 31-14 Wild Card round victory over Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2022.
Stars & Bruins
Technically, the Dallas Stars franchise has played the Boston Bruins in the postseason. That came when they were called the North Stars and called Minnesota home. Those North Stars swept the Bruins in the first round of the 1980–81 playoffs before moving to the other conference the next season and to Dallas ahead of the 1993 season.
The Stars and Bruins have had a few notable players don both of their iconic jerseys. NHL Icon Jaromir Jagr spent a season with both franchises in his hall of fame career. Ed Belfour’s heir Marty Turco also played one season in Boston after nearly a decade as the Stars’ primary goaltender.
But the biggest name that the franchises share is Tyler Seguin. Seguin spent the first three seasons of his career as a Bruin, collecting the first 56 goals of his career along with a Stanley Cup in 2011. Boston did not have the patience for Seguin to reach maturity and dealt him to Dallas in 2013, where he has been ever since.
The now 32-year old has amassed 295 goals and 372 assists in his eleven seasons with the Stars. The Bruins have had several Stanley Cup appearances since the trade, but have not hoisted the cup again since Seguin was traded away.
Current Bruins coach Jim Montgomery was the Stars head coach during 2018-2019 and has been in Boston since 2022, the same year Pete DeBoer arrived from Vegas.
Rangers & Red Sox
Despite being the only two teams among the four major sports to be in the same league among these two cities, and fairly successful at similar junctures, the Rangers and Red Sox have not met in the postseason. In fact, the Red Sox are the only American League East that the Rangers have not yet tussled with in October. All-time, the Rangers are 325-367 against Boston.
Similarly to the Bruins, the Red Sox had a future Hall of Famer on their roster that they moved on from, allowing the Rangers to swoop in and see him become a franchise cornerstone. In 2010, Adrian Beltre was coming off a hefty contract that he signed with the Seattle Mariners in 2005 after being an MVP candidate in his final season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
While his defense was never a detriment, there were concerns with his offensive capabilities after spending much of his prime in the cavernous Safeco Field. As a result, Beltre signed a pillow contract with the Red Sox, betting on himself to rebound and hit dingers around Pesky’s Pole and lace doubles off the Green Monster. Beltre was right, having an All-Star and Silver Slugger season for Boston.
The Red Sox preferred to give third base back to Kevin Youkilis heading into 2011, and Beltre once again entered free agency. Beltre went on to sign with the Rangers in their quest to defend the American League pennant and finally win the World Series.
Beltre was part of the Game 6 heartbreak for Texas in 2011, a moment that Red Sox faithful can sympathize with as they also felt it in 1986 when a ground ball for a would-be final out went between Bill Buckner’s legs and kept Boston from enjoying their first World Series championship since 1918, until the broke the Curse of the Bambino in 2004.
Thanks to the poor foresight of the Red Sox, Beltre went on to finish his Hall of Fame career as one of the greatest Texas Rangers ever.
Mavs & Celtics
The Celtics hold the overall edge over the Mavericks with a 46-40 all-time mark. Dallas has gained quite a lot of ground, however, as that record was 27-9 before Nowitzki arrived in 1998. The Mavs and Celtics have also had the most shared players between these two cities, with 48 players donning Mavs and Celtics colors during their career.
The biggest names span generations of Dallas’ best teams, including Michael Finley and Jason Terry. Finley’s time in Boston was at the end of his career in 2010, suiting up for 21 games at age 36. Jet Terry arrived in Boston immediately after his Mavericks career wrapped in 2012, scoring 10.1 points in 79 games and famously ruining his tattoo prediction from the 2011 championship by repeating the gimmick and getting Lucky the Leprechaun added when arriving in Boston.
The Celtics lost in the opening round to the New York Knicks and subsequently the last vestiges of the 2008 championship teams was split up over the summer, with Terry being a part of the Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett trade to Brooklyn.
The most infamous trade between the two franchises took place on December 18, 2014, when the Mavericks were looking for reinforcements at the point guard position and traded for Rajon Rondo. That trade also included a then 23-year-old Dwight Powell, who is now the most tenured Maverick on the roster after 10 seasons and joins Kyrie Irving and Kristaps Porzingis as players in these Finals to suit up for both franchises.
The Rondo trade nearly tanked the Mavs’ season back then, but the addition of a professional like Powell to the roster continues to pay off for continuity and culture long past any on-court contributions.
Do you think the NBA Finals will start a sports rivalry between Boston and Dallas? Share your thoughts with Irvin on X (formerly Twitter) @Twittirv.
