1986 Championship Victory

Lore & Background

The Celtics made the 1985 NBA Finals but lost in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers. In the offseason, president Red Auerbach traded Cedric Maxwell to the Los Angeles Clippers for Bill Walton, and traded with the Indiana Pacers to acquire Jerry Sichting for Quinn Buckner. The Celtics surged to a league-best 67–15 record, powered by an NBA record 40 victories at home. In the playoffs, Boston swept the Milwaukee Bucks in the conference finals. The Rockets, led by the 'Twin Towers' Ralph Sampson and Akeem Olajuwon, stunned the defending champion Lakers in the conference finals. The Celtics won the Finals 4–2, with Bird averaging 24 points, 9.7 rebounds, 9.7 assists, and 2.7 steals per game.

Reader's Guide

The series marked the first time the 'NBA Finals' branding was officially used, dropping the 'NBA World Championship Series' branding. Until the 2011 series, this was the last time the NBA Finals had started before June. It was also the last NBA Finals series to schedule a game on a Monday until 1999 and the last NBA Finals game to be played on Memorial Day. Until the 2018 series, it was the last to conclude before June 10.

Did You Know?

• The 1986 Finals were a rematch of the 1981 NBA Finals, though only Allen Leavell and Robert Reid remained from the Rockets' 1981 team.
• This was the second and last NBA Championship Series of the 1980s not to feature the Los Angeles Lakers.
• The championship would be the Celtics' last until 2008.
• CBS Sports used Dick Stockton and Tom Heinsohn as play-by-play and color commentator, with Brent Musburger as host and Pat O'Brien and Lesley Visser as sideline reporters.