The Boston Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 4-1 in the 2024 NBA Finals, to win their league-leading 18th championship in franchise history. Even though the Celtics proved to be the most dominant team all throughout the year with a 64-18 regular season record and 16-3 playoff record, not everyone says they are the best basketball team in the world.
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That is to say, Ergin Ataman, the coach of the EuroLeague Champion Panathinaikos, wants to challenge the Celtics for the "world champion" title, conveying the message that they have to travel to Greece to play his team before being deserving of this.
Ergin Ataman, head coach of the Euroleague champion Panathinaikos, calls out the Boston Celtics:
"If you want the world champion title, come and beat us in OAKA."👀
(Via @Eurohoopsnet ) pic.twitter.com/txvifeNYQ8
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) July 17, 2024
Back in May, Panathinaikos defeated the defending EuroLeague champs, Real Madrid, and apparently their coach thinks they can also beat the NBA champs as well.
"After the Boston Celtics became the NBA champions, they tweeted, 'World Champion Boston.' The EuroLeague also tweeted, 'Beat this team first,' with our photo. They see themselves very highly," Ataman said in an interview with Rafine TV.
"They want incredible numbers to come and play a game in Europe. You are not the world champion. If you want to get the world champion title, come and beat us, the EuroLeague champion. If you are so confident, I say come and beat us in OAKA."
☘️⚔️☘️ 𝗣𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗜𝗞𝗢𝗦 🆚 𝗕𝗢𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗡 𝗖𝗘𝗟𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗦?
👀 The head coach of Euroleague champions Panathinaikos, Ergin Ataman, challenges NBA champions, Boston Celtics. pic.twitter.com/tNyMdOGBhs
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) July 17, 2024
With this in mind, the Greek team's roster does feature former NBA player Kendrick Nunn, as well as Giannis Antetokounmpo's little brother, Kostas. Nevertheless, the real question the Panathinaikos' coach needs to ask is, how in the world will they be able to stop a lineup that features Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, and Kristaps Porzingis.
This issue of NBA teams being called "world champs" was first brought up by U.S. Olympian sprinter Noah Lyles after the Denver Nuggets won the championship last year.
"You know what hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have 'world champion' on their head," Lyles said. "World champion of what? The United States?"
Well, in technical terms, coach Ataman and Lyles have a point, but the phrase world champion covers a broader point of view, as it is known that some of the best international players all around the world want to play in the NBA, such as Giannis (Greece), Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Victor Wembanyama (France), and Joel Embiid (Cameroon).
One thing is for certain, Celtics fans will fervently defend the claim of themselves being referred to as "world champs," being that the team's official X account has "18x World Champs" in their bio.
My friend Jack, who is known for his Celtics 2022 World Champs tattoo, finally gets to update it 2 years later pic.twitter.com/8EhXiTB3dq
— Ian Inangelo (@iinangelo) June 20, 2024
All in all, if we were being honest, Panathinaikos, starring former Miami Heat player Nunn (12.1 ppg in NBA) vs. the Celtics would most likely turn out to be a blow out.
There's talk about how cool it would be if @EuroLeague champions @Paobcgr played the @NBA champions @celtics for the world title.
Here's a throwback to the previous time when Panathinaikos as Euroleague champions faced up to the NBA champs @spurs in September 2007. #paobc pic.twitter.com/bH8yYyQZR1
— Panathinaikos BC History and Retro (@PaoBcHistory) July 19, 2024
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