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Cigars, champagne and ski goggles: Inside the Celtics' unforgettable locker-room celebration

Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald on

Published in Basketball

BOSTON — It’s late Monday night, less than an hour after the Celtics clinched their latest championship by blowing out the Mavericks in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

The postgame party at TD Garden is underway.

In the back of Boston’s champagne-soaked locker room, a tall, slender man stands for a few moments above the fray in a navy blazer and black undershirt.

He watches, through team-distributed ski goggles, all of the champagne pop; every puff of smoke emerge from each cigar; dozens of Celtics players and coaches and managers and staffers and front-office members celebrate together in a space that’s easily at double capacity, while music blares and vibes soar to an all-time high after the long-awaited arrival of Banner 18.

His name is Benas Matkevicius, and he is Boston’s international scout. Matkevicius is simultaneously celebrating his 10-year work anniversary, a stint that began when he met Celtics assistant GM Austin Ainge in Poland. Work keeps him overseas for half the year, sending him sometimes as far as Australia and often chasing basketball talent all over Europe.

But tonight, for a little while, the chase is over. Matkevicius is still.

 

That is, except for the moments he’s posing with the Larry O’Brien trophy and his beloved Lithuanian flag. Or taking pictures with colleagues. Or folding his open hands over his face in disbelief. Or downing separate sips of tequila and wine, then beer.

What’s next? Who knows. Who cares? He is a Celtic, which means tonight is his night for as long as he can hold on. From the back of the locker room, this is what he sees.

As reporters invade the oval sanctum from one end at 11:45 p.m, Celtics players bounce in the middle of the room in a tight huddle. Most wear black NBA Finals T-shirts and white championship hats. Some wear ski goggles. Jaylen Brown does not, but nothing can hurt him now, standing in the middle of the huddle, cradling his Finals MVP trophy.

A table holding Michelob Ultra bottles and champagne rests on the left side of the room at hip height. Opposite the table, on the other side of the huddle, tubs filled with ice, more booze and beverages sit on the floor. Clear plastic tarps hang over the walls.

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