Names May Change, but Results Are the Same

In the past 25 years, the Lakers and Boston Celtics have met eight times to decide the National Basketball Assn. championship. And as all the banners hanging from the rafters of antiquated Boston Garden will tell you, the Celtics have won all eight times.

The rivalry, a lopsided but always interesting one, began in the 1958-59 season, when the Celtics beat the Minneapolis Lakers. After the Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960, the Celtics beat them for the NBA title seven times, including last season.

Although Boston has dominated the series over the years, the Lakers have extended the Celtics to seven games four times and six games twice. The only Celtic sweep was in the 1958-59 playoff.

So, if the Lakers hope to win the NBA title for the fourth time in the franchise’s history in Los Angeles, they will have to overcome a playoff jinx against the Celtics that has spanned a quarter of a century, two owners (Jack Kent Cooke and Jerry Buss), and eight coaches.

A look back at the previous Laker-Celtic series:

1958-59, CELTICS, 4-0

The closest the Minneapolis Lakers came to beating Boston was in Game 4, when they lost, 118-113. Afterward, Celtic players carried Coach Red Auerbach, cigar in hand, off the floor in exultation. The best performance of the playoffs was turned in by Boston’s playmaking guard, Bob Cousy, who had 23 points and 15 assists in Game 3.

1961-62, CELTICS, 4-3

This was the Lakers’ second season in Los Angeles--they played in the Sports Arena--and they gave the Celtics all they could handle before falling in overtime in Game 7, 110-107.

The score was tied, 100-100, in the final four seconds of regulation when Laker guard Frank Selvy, an excellent outside shooter, missed a 15-foot jump shot. Celtic center Bill Russell grabbed the rebound, sending the game into overtime. Given that reprieve, the Celtics outscored the Lakers, 10-7, in the overtime to win the title.

The highlights for the Lakers were in Game 3, when Jerry West made a layup right before the buzzer to give the Lakers a 117-115 victory, and in Game 5 at the Boston Garden, when Elgin Baylor scored 61 points and had 22 rebounds in a 126-121 win.

1962-63, CELTICS, 4-2

In Cousy’s final season, the Celtics held off the Lakers again in a tough series to win the title. When Game 6 was over and the Celtics had a 112-109 win, Cousy jubilantly heaved the ball to the Sports Arena.

The Celtics clinched the series when Tom Heinsohn made a steal and a subsequent layup in the final 13 seconds. Cousy sprained his ankle in the fourth quarter of that game but continued playing.

1964-65, CELTICS, 4-1

The Lakers were without Baylor in this series. The Lakers’ star forward injured his knee in the first game of the playoffs against the Baltimore Bullets and was lost for the remainder of the playoffs. West took over the scoring load, averaging 40.6 points in 11 playoff games, including games of 47 and 45 points against the Celtics.

But the Celtics, again led by Russell, were too strong to overcome. Russell, who was struggling with an eye injury, had 30 rebounds in Game 5, which the Celtics won, 129-96.

1965-66, CELTICS, 4-3

The Lakers’ frustrations were never higher than in this series. The Celtics were leading by 10 points with 40 seconds to play in Game 7, but the Lakers pulled to within two points, 95-93, with four seconds left. John Havlicek simply dribbled out the remaining time to clinch the title.

It turned out to be Auerbach’s final game as coach. He handed over the coaching reigns to Russell, who would be a player-coach for three seasons. Auerbach remained as general manager.

1967-68, CELTICS, 4-2

In Russell’s second season as player-coach, the Celtics won the championship in six games. The final game wasn’t even close as the Celtics routed the Lakers, 124-109, behind Havlicek’s 40 points.

Boston’s toughest competition that season came in the Eastern final against Philadelphia, which built a 3-1 lead in games before losing three straight.

1968-69, CELTICS, 4-3

People still talk about this series, especially Game 7. The Celtics, of course, won the game, 108-106, thanks to a Don Nelson jump shot in the final minute that hit the back of the rim, bounced four feet in the air and then swished through the net. That gave Boston a 105-102 lead and the Lakers never recovered.

This was the only series in which the Lakers had the home-court advantage, and Laker owner Jack Kent Cooke had ordered balloons to be hung from the Forum rafters and the USC band to play “Happy Days Are Here Again” after the Lakers won the game.

The balloons never came cascading down, and the band never played a note. The Celtics, in Russell’s final season, won the championship again. It was Boston’s 11th championship in 13 years in the Russell era.

1983-84, CELTICS, 4-3

This was another great series, which featured outstanding performances by Boston’s Larry Bird and the Lakers’ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, rough play under the basket and uncharacteristic vulnerability from the Lakers’ Magic Johnson.

Johnson did not have a good series.

In Game 2 at Boston, a Laker loss, he mysteriously dribbled out the final seconds without attempting a shot, finally passing to Bob McAdoo right before the buzzer. In Game 4 at the Forum, Johnson missed two free throws and made a bad pass in regulation before the Celtics won in overtime.

And in Game 7 in the sweltering heat of the Garden, Johnson was stripped of the ball twice in the final two minutes when the Lakers were trying to cut the Celtics’ lead.