On Monday, the Boston Celtics regained their status as the NBA team with the most championships, winning their 18thtitle with a 106-88 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

The Celtics won the series 4-1, cementing their reputation as the NBA’s best team after having boasted the league’s best record over the regular season. Jayson Tatum led the way with 31 points, 11 assists and 8 rebounds.  Jaylen Brown, who was named the Most Valuable Player in the Finals, scored 20 points, Jrue Holiday had 15 points, and Derrick White added 14. The Celtics outrebounded the Mavericks 51-35.

Tatum and Brown have been together on the team since 2017, going as far as the NBA Finals but not winning a title until now.

The Celtics led by nine points at the end of the first quarter, then built the lead to 21 points at halftime as Payton Pritchard threw in a three-point shot from beyond halfcourt. The outcome of the game was never in doubt after that.

The title came 16 years to the day after the Celtics won their last championship in 2008, when they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, who have 17 titles, in the Finals. Head coach Joe Mazzulla, 35, became the youngest head coach to win the NBA title since legendary player-coach Bill Russell led the team to its title in 1969 to conclude the most dominant run of titles in sports, as that was the Celtics 11th title in 13 years, with a string of eight consecutive championships between 1959-1966.

Los Angeles Lakers Hall of Famer Magic Johnson tweeted, “I hate that the Celtics officially have more championships than us now,” adding, “Celtics GM Brad Stevens trading for Jru Holiday and Kristaps Prozingis was an MVP move that made the Celtics the best team in basketball this year! Adding Holiday made them the perimeter defending team in the league, and adding Prozingis made them the most explosive offensive and best starting 5 in basketball this year! … Joe Mazzulla really improved as a coach this season and had the Celtics prepared for every round of the playoffs, making all the proper adjustments on offense and defense.”

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has become the second state attorney general to sue the pharmaceutical company Pfizer over the COVID vaccine the company provided.

On Monday, Kobach announced the lawsuit at a press conference in Topeka.

“Pfizer made multiple misleading statements to deceive the public about its vaccine at a time when Americans needed the truth,” Kobach said.

The lawsuit states, “Pfizer misled the public that it had a ‘safe and effective’ COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer said its COVID-19 vaccine was safe even though it knew its COVID-19 vaccine was connected to serious adverse events, including myocarditis and pericarditis, failed pregnancies, and deaths. Pfizer concealed this critical safety information from the public.”

Pfizer said its COVID-19 vaccine was effective even though it knew its COVID-19 vaccine waned over time and did not protect against COVID-19 variants,” the lawsuit continues. “Pfizer concealed this critical effectiveness information from the public. Pfizer said its COVID-19 vaccine would prevent transmission of COVID-19 even though it knew it never studied the effect of its vaccine on transmission of COVID-19. To keep the public from learning the truth, Pfizer worked to censor speech on social media that questioned Pfizer’s claims about its COVID-19 vaccine. … Pfizer must be held accountable for falsely representing the benefits of its COVID- 19 vaccine while concealing and suppressing the truth about its vaccine’s safety risks, waning effectiveness, and inability to prevent transmission.”

Pfizer released the following statement in response to the lawsuit:

We are proud to have developed the COVID-19 vaccine in record time in the midst of a global pandemic and saved countless lives. The representations made by Pfizer about its COVID-19 vaccine have been accurate and science-based. The Company believes that the state’s case has no merit and will respond to the suit in due course.

Pfizer is deeply committed to the well-being of the patients it serves and has no higher priority than ensuring the safety and effectiveness of its treatments and vaccines. Since its initial authorization by FDA in December 2020, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to more than 1.5 billion people, demonstrated a favorable safety profile in all age groups, and helped protect against severe COVID-19 outcomes, including hospitalization and death.

Patient safety is our number one priority, which is why we follow diligent safety and monitoring protocols.

Last November, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Pfizer.