1984 Championship Victory

Lore & Background

This series was a rematch of the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics after their rivalry was revived in 1979 with the Magic Johnson–Larry Bird pair entering the league. After alternating wins with the Lakers, the Celtics won Game 7 and the series with a score of 111–102. This was the last NBA Finals to use the 2–2–1–1–1 format until 1985, as the following year the NBA Finals format was changed to 2–3–2 after Celtics president Red Auerbach complained to NBA Commissioner David Stern about the constant travel during the Finals. The series was the eighth time in NBA history that the Celtics and Lakers met in the NBA finals, with Boston winning each of the previous seven.

In Their Own Story

The air inside the Boston Garden was thick with tension and stale popcorn. With minutes ticking away in Game 7, the score remained tight until the Celtics' suffocating defense forced crucial turnovers that broke the Lakers' rhythm. Cedric Maxwell, often overshadowed by the Big Three, poured in a game-high 29 points to seal the deal. As the final buzzer sounded, the roar of the crowd didn't just fill the arena; it seemed to shake the very foundations of the historic building. Red Auerbach, watching from the bench, finally allowed a rare, triumphant smile as his players mobbed their leader on the hardwood.

Reader's Guide

In the 1983–84 season, the Celtics won 62 games to lead the league. The Celtics were led by Bird, who won his first MVP award, and were complemented by 1981 Finals MVP Cedric Maxwell, first-time all-star and Sixth Man Award winner Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Gerald Henderson and Danny Ainge. Boston's most crucial addition was Dennis Johnson, whom they acquired from the Phoenix Suns in the offseason. In the playoffs, the Celtics defeated the Washington Bullets in four, the New York Knicks in seven, and the Milwaukee Bucks in five. The Lakers finished with the best record (54–28) in the Western Conference, powered by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. During the playoffs, the Lakers defeated the Kansas City Kings in three, the Dallas Mavericks in five, and the Phoenix Suns in six. The Lakers suffered a key injury when Jamaal Wilkes (17 PPG) was ruled out of the finals.

Did You Know?

• Game 4 of the 1984 Finals marked the last Finals game to go into overtime until Game 1 of the 1986 NBA Finals.
• Game 5 was known as the 'Heat Game', played under 97 °F heat without air conditioning at Boston Garden.
• In Game 3, Magic Johnson dished out 21 assists, an NBA Finals record.
• This was the Celtics' fifteenth championship.