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History of the NBA Finals

Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers - 1984

Courtesy Boston Celtics

Larry Bird

Moments after the Boston Celtics had secured their 15th National Basketball Association championship banner for the crowded rafters in Boston Garden, the ever-loquacious Kevin McHale closed the book on the 1984 NBA World Championship Series in an appropriate way.

McHale, the Boston forward, explained the contrasting styles of the Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers by saying that "it was a case of the Teamsters, the hard hats and the miners taking on the MDs in their Mercedes, the lawyers in their three-piece suits and the movie stars of Hollywood and winning by getting their hands dirty."

That's an elaborate way of saying that the Celtics defeated the Lakers in seven games by relentlessly pounding the boards. Rebounding, the NBA's blue-collar art form, was the most effective antidote to the Lakers' normally lethal running game and the major reason that the Celtics were able to continue their domination over the Lakers in championship series play.

Before 1984, Boston had matched up seven times against the Lakers' franchise in the finals, with the Celtics winning all seven. Overall, Boston had won 14 titles while losing only once (to St. Louis in 1958) in a championship series.

The Los Angeles franchise, which was moved to L.A. from Minneapolis in 1960, had participated in 18 finals and had an 8-3 record when the opponent was someone other than the Celtics.

The teams had not met in a championship series since 1969, when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was known as Lew Alcindor and was playing his senior season at UCLA. Basketball fans had waited 15 years for the rivalry to resume.

The dissimilar styles, locations, stars and histories of the two teams added to the allure of the matchup between the best in the East and the best In the West. It was:

Rebounding vs. Running. Atlantic vs. Pacific. Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson. Tradition vs. Glamour.

In the end, the Celtics' eighth championship series victory over the Lakers was more a triumph for the Celtics basketball way of life. The seventh game, played June 12 in Boston Garden, was indicative of their simple, successful game plan: "When the going gets rough, get rougher." The Celtics ruled the backboards, 52-33, and won the clincher, 111-102, despite making only 39.5 percent of their shots (34 of 86).

During the series, the Celtics made 44.2 percent of their shots while the Lakers established a championship series record by making 51.4 percent.

But Boston had 337 rebounds to Los Angeles' 306. Take away the Lakers 19-rebound advantage in Game 3, a Laker blowout, and the Celtics had 50 more in the series.

"The Celtics are a very aggressive, very tall team, and they also wanted it," L.A. Coach Pat Riley said after Game 7. "That's the difference, because rebounding is desire. They don't have the same kind of talent we have. They have equal talent, but it's made differently. In a game decided by aggressiveness and rebounding, their talent is better than ours.

"We have to hope our quickness gets the better of their size, and it did for awhile -- about three and a half games. Then their size and power started to take control."

Los Angeles started strong on May 27, winning Game 1, 115-109, when Abdul-Jabbar fought off a migraine headache to score 32 points. The Lakers had entered that game with 34 hours rest after winning the Western Conference finals In six games over the Phoenix Suns. Part of that time was spent traveling from Phoenix to Boston. The Celtics had been resting for three days after defeating Milwaukee in five games in the Eastern Conference finals.

But the Lakers looked like the rested team. They blasted off to a 30-12 lead in the first nine minutes, scored 28 points off their fast break and ran the Celtics dizzy.

"That's the best I've ever seen a team run," Boston's Cedric Maxwell said. "We like to run, but there's no way we can run as well as they can."

Four days later, the Lakers seemed ready to apply an early knockout punch. With 15 seconds left in Game 2, they had the ball and a 113-111 lead.

But the Celtics applied backcourt pressure and James Worthy, who had been brilliant to that point, tried to force a cross-court pass to Byron Scott. Boston's Gerald Henderson charged in front of Scott, intercepted the pass and made the game-tying layup with 11 seconds left.

The Lakers still had time to get off a potential game-winning shot, but Magic was unable to get the ball to Abdul-Jabbar and failed to shoot as time ran off the clock.

Johnson later said he would rather the game go into overtime than take a chance on the Celtics intercepting a pass and having a chance to win in regulation. But that strategy proved faulty when the Celtics registered a 124-121 victory in overtime to tie the series.

Bird made only 8 of 22 shots from the field, but he led Boston with 27 points and 13 rebounds. Worthy had 29 points for the Lakers, but his critical error detracted from the luster of his performance.

In Game 3, the Lakers received a 21-assist, 14-point, 11-rebound performance from Johnson and overwhelmed the Celtics, 137-104. At that point, Los Angeles clearly was the better team. If not for Game 2 mistakes, the Lakers would have been in position for a sweep. A 3-0 lead with Game 4 in Los Angeles would have been a near-impossible situation for the Celtics.

As Bird said after the series: "To be honest, they should have swept. It was virtually over after that game (Game 3) when they crushed us."

But the Lakers had left an opening and the Celtics slipped through. Bird chastised himself and his teammates after Game 3, when Boston was outrebounded, 63-44, saying, "We played like a bunch of sissies."

Bird changed that in Game 4. He scored 29 points and collected 21 rebounds as the Celtics won their second overtime game, 129-125, to even the series at 2-2.

Again, mistakes by key players hurt the Lakers. Johnson missed two free throws and Worthy missed one in the final 35 seconds of overtime. Bird's two free throws with 16 seconds left in regulation forced the game into overtime after Boston had trailed by five points with less than a minute left in regulation.

Game 4 also marked another turning point. McHale's neck tackle on L.A.'s Kurt Rambis in the second period emphasized Boston's newfound determination and established the style of play that would dominate through the remainder of the series. McHale later said he simply was trying to stop the easy basket. The Lakers called it a dirty play. Before Game 5, Riley said the Celtics played "like a bunch of thugs," and thus the series had the final, necessary ingredient for greatness --controversy.

Besides asserting themselves physically, the Celtics also made an important defensive adjustment in Game 4 by putting six-time All-Defensive Team guard Dennis Johnson on Magic Johnson. Dennis never really stopped Magic, but he bothered him enough the rest of the series to disrupt the Lakers.

And while Magic was struggling, Bird found his shooting touch.

In the oppressive 97-degree heat of non-air-conditioned Boston Garden in Game 5, Bird warmed to the occasion with 15-of-20 shooting from the field. He scored 34 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in the Celtics' 121-103 victory that gave Boston a 3-2 series edge.

The Lakers returned home for Game 6 and snapped out of their doldrums with a 119-108 victory. Abdul-Jabbar was the man of the moment after scoring 30 points.

But Game 7 was scheduled in the Garden and the Celtics took great comfort in knowing that no Boston team had ever lost the seventh game of a championship series.

And sure enough, that record remained intact.

Maxwell, who had averaged only 11 points in the first six games, took up the scoring slack with 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Robert Parish scored 14 points and grabbed 16 rebounds and Bird scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Bird, who averaged 27.4 points and 14 rebounds for the seven games, was named Most Valuable Player of the series. The CBS telecast of Game 7 drew a Neilsen rating of 19.3, the highest ever for an NBA game. That means some 40 million people watched at least part of the seventh game of the first Championship Series to go the limit in six years.