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We all know a picture is worth a thousand words. But sometimes the story behind a photo — especially one that many of us have already seen — merits a few more. The above image is one of those photos, and this is one of those stories.

Last month, Globe photographer Danielle Parhizkaran was perched on a platform behind the Celtics bench at Madison Square Garden, watching the team play the Knicks in Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals.

The stakes were high. The Celtics, last year’s NBA champions, already trailed 2-1 in the series and were behind as the final minutes of the fourth quarter ticked down. Seeking a better vantage point to capture the disappointment on the bench and on the face of head coach Joe Mazzulla, Danielle left her assigned spot and moved higher up in the arena.

And then, as every Boston sports fan knows by now, disaster struck.

As Knicks forward OG Anunoby ran past Celtics star Jayson Tatum with a loose ball, Danielle kept her camera, a Canon R3 with a 400mm 2.8 lens, trained on Tatum as he fell — “not thinking it was something serious,” she said, “but just in case he had a reaction that would illustrate the Celtics’ overall frustration.” But as Tatum turned, the look Danielle saw on his face told a different story. Tatum had ruptured his Achilles’ tendon, ending his season and potentially sidelining him well into next year’s. The Knicks went on to win the game, and then the series.

“I don’t like photographing injuries because it’s so sad to watch,” Danielle said of the photo she captured (1/1600, f3.2, ISO 4000). Tatum was curled on the court floor, left arm framing his face, grimacing in pain and frustration. But it turned out to be the signal image of the team’s season this year.

“In the end, I feel like the photo summed up the Celtics’ playoff run,” she said.

Danielle’s is one of 20 images that the Globe’s photo editors deemed the best that the paper captured in May. Besides a bitter end to the Celtics’ season, the month included graduation ceremonies unfolding in a new political climate, remembrances of fallen soldiers, the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, the return of outdoor concerts, and a lot of rain.

Below are a few more of the paper’s top photos from last month. Peruse the rest of them here.

Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff

Andrea and Nahomy Chavarría arrived in Vermont with their family last year from Nicaragua. They came legally, but President Trump’s changes to immigration policies convinced them to self-deport. At Champlain Valley Union High School, teachers and administrators scrambled to put together an early graduation ceremony for the sisters, who were both seniors.

As Nahomy and her father left the school for the last time, Globe photographer Jessica Rinaldi captured them walking by a giant American flag that the sisters’ classmates had painted and adorned with quotes from American icons. My colleague Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio told the family’s story in an article published last month.

David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

April showers brought May flowers — but also more showers. As this newsletter has documented, the city has endured 12 straight weekends of rain, and a 13th looks to be in the offing. Globe photographer David L. Ryan braved the weather to capture an umbrella-toting pedestrian on storm-dampened Boylston Street.

Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff

College commencement ceremonies in Greater Boston have taken place in Trump’s shadow as his efforts to cut research funding and bar or deport foreign students hit Harvard, Tufts, and other schools. But there’s still plenty of joy. Photographer Pat Greenhouse captured newly minted BU graduates celebrating in a hail of confetti.

Erin Clark/Globe Staff

May marked five years since a Minneapolis police officer knelt on George Floyd’s neck, sparking a national conversation about on racism and policing. Globe photographer Erin Clark found an echo of that reckoning outside the Massachusetts State House last month as a singing group made up of formerly imprisoned Black men — from left, Robert Rose, Albert Brown, and Jabir Pope — performed during a rally for criminal justice reform.

Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff

Jessica Rinaldi was there as Lilah Bilotta, 7, ran with outstretched arms through a sea of American flags on Boston Common ahead of Memorial Day. To mark the holiday, volunteers with the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund and Home Base created a garden of more than 37,000 flags — one for every service member from Massachusetts who has given their life since the Revolutionary War.

Erin Clark/Globe Staff

In between deluges, it finally started to feel like summer last month. Erin Clark captured Brad Shultz, the guitarist for the alt-rock band Cage the Elephant, playing outdoors among the crowd on the second day of this year’s Boston Calling music festival.

🧩 8 Across: Bright students’ org. | ⚡️ 80° Showers and storms

Where will all the electricity to power AI in Massachusetts come from?Adobe Stock

Boston and Massachusetts

New England

Trump administration

Then vs. now: In Trump’s first term, his ban on travelers from Muslim-majority countries sparked protests at airports and legal pushback. His new travel ban has drawn less resistance.Russia-Ukraine war: Germany’s chancellor urged Trump to pressure Vladimir Putin to seek peace. Trump said it might be better to let the countries “fight for a while.” (Guardian)Chelsea arrest: A Boston civil rights group accused immigration agents of unlawfully detaining a father of three on Mother’s Day, seeking $1 million in damages for smashing his wife’s car window and traumatizing their children.

The Nation and the World

Boulder attack: Prosecutors in Colorado charged the suspect with 118 counts, including attempted murder. (AP)Unanimous decisions: The Supreme Court ruled for a straight woman who lost out on jobs to gay colleagues, saying she doesn’t have to meet a higher standard than minorities to sue for workplace discrimination. (Politico) The justices also said Mexico cannot sue US gunmakers for violence that Mexican drug cartels commit using US-made weapons. (SCOTUSblog)Diddy trial: The judge threatened to eject the music mogul from the courtroom for making faces at the jury. (NBC)

Will Ukraine’s drone attacks change the war?

Yes, says Bernard-Henri Lévy in the Wall Street Journal, calling Ukraine’s daring raid, which neutralized important Russian planes, “a further step on the path to victory.” (🎁)

No, Jennifer Kavanagh counters in UnHerd. Despite their shock value, the attacks will harden Russia’s resolve and won’t help Ukraine regain lost territory.

Whether or not it turns the tide, Ukraine’s ingenuity has transformed warfare, exposing the threat that cheap drones pose to standard militaries — including the US’s, Max Boot argues in the Washington Post. (🎁)

By Teresa Hanafin

💘 Blind date: She’s a kind and genuine person who plays the cello; he’s into mixology and breathing fire (literally). Did their relationship ignite?

💰 Stash: Americans are getting close to saving what they’re supposed to in order to not run out of money in retirement. Here’s how much that is. (WSJ 🎁)

🏙️ Beautiful buildings: This year’s Boston Preservation Alliance achievement awards have gone to City Hall and its plaza, the Curley Community Center in South Boston, the Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, and more. (BPA)

📺 Tony weekend: Here’s how to watch two stage productions that are nominated for Tony Awards this year, as well as five past winners. The awards show airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on CBS and Paramount+, and Christopher Wallenberg has some predictions. Interestingly, among the 29 plays or musicals vying for Broadway’s most coveted honor, the subject of death is central or ancillary to the story in a dozen of them.

🏠 Home again: She couldn’t have guessed where new love and a new marriage would take her: back to her old house.

🟣 No love: Sherwin-Williams has announced its loneliest color. It’s not that friendless people should use it; it’s the tint that it sold the least last year. (BH&G)

Thanks for reading Starting Point.

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This newsletter was edited by Teresa Hanafin.

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Ian Prasad Philbrick can be reached at ian.philbrick@globe.com.