Celtics-Lakers Finals history
1959 NBA Finals
Boston 4, Minneapolis 0
The first meeting between the NBA's most prestigious franchises wasn't supposed to happen. But star rookie Elgin Baylor (24.9 ppg in the regular season) led the Lakers past Detroit in the first round and helped them stun the defending champion St. Louis Hawks in six games in the conference finals. The Celtics, however, were motivated by their Finals loss to the Hawks a year earlier and won the title in a sweep.
1962 NBA Finals
Boston 4, Los Angeles 3
Behind the great play of Elgin Baylor and guard Jerry West, the Lakers won 54 games in the regular season. They disposed of Detroit in the Western finals to set up a date with the Celtics, who survived a seven-game set with Philadelphia to take the East. Baylor gave the Lakers a 3-2 series lead by scoring a then-playoff-record 61 points in Game 5, but the Celtics tied it with a 119-105 win. In Game 7, LA's Frank Selvy missed a last-second jumper in regulation and the Celtics pulled away in overtime for a 110-107 victory.
1963 NBA Finals
Boston 4, Los Angeles 2
The career of Celtics legend Bob Cousy ended on a high note as Boston vanquished the Lakers in a rematch to win their sixth championship. The Celtics won the first two tightly-contested games, but LA answered with a 119-99 rout in Game 3. Boston came back with a 108-105 triumph, but Baylor and West went for 43 and 32 points to lead LA to victory in Game 5. The Celtics won the crown with a 112-109 win in Game 6, and fittingly, Cousy dribbled out the final seconds.
1965 NBA Finals
Boston 4, Los Angeles 1
The Celtics entered the Finals on a high after John Havlicek sealed their Eastern Division title with his steal off Philadelphia's Hal Greer at the end of Game 7. The Lakers were waiting in the Finals once again, but with Baylor out with a knee injury that he suffered in Game 1 of the Western finals, LA was in trouble. The Celtics stomped the Lakers in five games, two of them being blowouts of 32 (Game 1) and 33 (Game 5) points.
1966 NBA Finals
Boston 4, Los Angeles 3
Red Auerbach announced early in the year that he would retire as coach to focus on his duties as general manager. His last Finals appearance started badly, with the Lakers taking a 133-129 victory in Boston. Before Game 2, Auerbach made another announcement: Bill Russell was to be his successor as coach. Just like that, Boston rattled off three victories in a row. But the Lakers wouldn't go away quietly with wins in Games 5 and 6. In Game 7, the Celtics sent the coach out as a champion with a 95-93 victory.
1968 NBA Finals
Boston 4, Los Angeles 2
The teams split the first two games in the Garden, then Boston jumped ahead with a 127-119 victory in Los Angeles. The Lakers struck back in Game 4, with West going for 38 and Baylor for 30 to lead their team to a series-tying win. In Game 5, LA charged back from an 18-point deficit in the third quarter to force overtime, but the Celtics held on in the extra frame to win 120-117. Boston finally extinguished the Lakers with a 124-109 triumph in Game 6 in which Havlicek led the way with 40 points.
1969 NBA Finals
Boston 4, Los Angeles 3
With West, Baylor, and Wilt Chamberlain all averaging more than 20 points a game, the Lakers came into the Finals in an unaccustomed position: favorites. They played the role well in Game 1, as West's 53 points led them to a 120-118 win. The Lakers also took Game 2, 118-112. But Boston managed to win Game 3, and a shot by Sam Jones with three seconds left in Game 4 lifted the Celtics to an 89-88 victory. The two teams then traded wins, but in Game 7, Boston held off a big Laker rally in the fourth quarter to capture the crown, 108-106.
1984 NBA Finals
Boston 4, Los Angeles 3
The Lakers sported a solid 11-3 mark in the '84 playoffs going into the Finals, and they took the first battle in this seven-game series, 115-109. But Boston evened the score as Gerald Henderson forced overtime in Game 2 with a steal-and-score; the Celtics went on to win, 124-121. LA blew out the Celtics in Game 3, but Boston won two of the next three contests to take the series to Game 7. Boston jumped on Cedric Maxwell's back and he delivered (24 points, eight rebounds, eight assists) as they captured the title with a 111-102 win.
1985 NBA Finals
Los Angeles 4, Boston 2
After years of torment at the hands of the Celtics, the Lakers turned the tables despite getting crushed in Game 1, 148-114 ('The Memorial Day Massacre'). LA took two of the next three games behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who averaged 30.2 points and 11.3 rebounds in each of the Lakers' Finals wins. LA won Game 5, 120-111, and in Game 6, they delivered the knockout blow in the Garden, a place that had been a house of horrors so many times. Abdul-Jabbar scored 18 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Lakers in a 111-100 victory that silenced the Boston faithful.
1987 NBA Finals
Los Angeles 4, Boston 2
With Abdul-Jabbar heading into the twilight of his career (but at 17.5 points per game, a still-valuable cog in the Laker machine), Magic Johnson became the focal point of the LA attack as the season wore on. Johnson lived up to the hype in Game 1 of the Finals with a 29-point, 13-assist performance in a winning effort. LA won two of the next three before Boston crashed the Lakers' would-be championship party with a 123-108 victory in Game 5 at the Garden. But Magic and his men came through in the title-clinching Game 6. Abdul-Jabbar scored 32 points, James Worthy had 22, and Magic notched 16 points and nine assists in the Lakers' 106-93 victory.
