The Celtics and Lakers square off in L.A. on Sunday night and it’s not exactly must-see NBA action here in 2015. With both teams trying to rebuild after being champions within the last decade, Sunday’s game won’t have the Celtics/Lakers hype that we’re used to feeling around the games.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t the best rivalry in the sport. From the 60’s to the 80’s to the modern day, NBA history is defined by a series of collision courses between the Celtics and the Lakers in the Finals. There are countless classics to choose from, but we’ve identified 10 games to revisit as a reminder of just how awesome the rivalry has been.


10. Game 7, 1966: Red Auerbach’s Swan Song

Red Auerbach’s last game as Celtics head coach was Game 7 of the NBA Finals and the Lakers were aiming to make his swan song a sad one. Jerry West scored 36 points, but Bill Russell, Sam Jones, John Havlicek, and the Celtics held on for a 95-93 win and sent the boss out with a cigar in his mouth and a ninth championship for his mantle.

9. Game 6, 2008: Banner 17

This game was a massacre. With the Celtics looking to close out the Lakers in Boston, the game got out of hand in the second quarter and the new Big Three of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen put their feet on the throats of their rivals from out west.

The win marked the culmination of an incredible turnaround from the 2006-07 season, when the Celtics were 24-58. Executive of the Year Danny Ainge dealt for Allen on draft night and Garnett before the season, and the Celtics filled out the supporting cast with veterans like James Posey and Eddie House as well as young talents like Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins.

8. Game 7, 2010: The Lakers Get Revenge

The Lakers beat the Orlando Magic in the 2009 NBA Finals, as the injury-riddled Celtics seethed at home. A healthy Boston team returned to the Finals the following season to face the Lakers, and the series went seven games.


Kendrick Perkins was injured in Game 6 and missed Game 7, but Boston seemed in control through two and a half quarters anyway. A 13-point Celtics lead with 20 minutes to play wasn’t enough, as L.A. overcame a 6-24 shooting performance from Kobe Bryant to win the game. Ron Artest’s 3-pointer with a minute to go all but sealed the deal.

7. Game 7, 1969: Russell’s Last Game

Bill Russell replaced Red Auerbach as head coach and the Celtics kept winning championships. As a player-coach, Russell continued to dominate on the court, but his career was coming to a close in 1969.

In Game 7 in Los Angeles, the C’s held off a furious late rally to secure their 11th championship in 13 years. Leading by as much as 17 in the fourth quarter, the Celtics struggled to maintain defensive intensity with Russell, Hondo, and Sam Jones playing with 5 personal fouls. Jerry West scored 42 points but the Lakers couldn’t complete the miracle, losing 108-106.

Russell and Jones retired after the season, marking the end of an era for the Celtics that ended the only way possible: By beating the West/Wilt Chamberlain/Elgin Baylor Lakers in the Finals.

6. Game 7, 1984: Rivalry Renewed

The 1984 Finals was the first in a stretch of three Celtics/Lakers matchups in a four-year span. It stretched to seven games, and Boston won Game 7 behind a strong showing from the Big Three – Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish – and a clutch, 24-point performance from Cedric Maxwell.

There’s a case to be made that this was the greatest Finals in NBA history. It pitted the two best players of the 80’s – Bird and the Lakers’ Magic Johnson – against each other and reignited the Boston/Los Angeles rivalry.


The games themselves were the icing on the cake. Two other games from this series made this list, and the Game 2 classic – in which Gerald Henderson’s steal and layup sent the game into overtime – wasn’t even one of them.

5. Game 4, 1984: McHale Clotheslines Rambis

Down 2-1 and facing a must-win situation in Game 4 in Los Angeles, the Celtics needed a spark to turn the series around. That spark was Kevin McHale, and his fast break clothesline of Kurt Rambis (the Celtics were down six in the third quarter) was the defining moment in one of the most physical, intense, and competitive games ever played.

When the dust settled, the Celtics overcame poor offensive performances from Bird and McHale to escape with a 129-125 overtime win, reclaiming home court advantage and ultimately winning the series.

4. Game 4, 2008:The Comeback Game

Down 45-21 in the second quarter, the Celtics looked lost against the Lakers. Nursing a 2-1 series lead, Boston wasn’t facing a must-win situation, but it was still shocking to see them so flat.

From that moment on, a slow bleeding comeback ensued, with James Posey and Eddie House rising to the occasion off the bench and the Big Three providing their usual impact on both ends of the floor. The Celtics closed the game on a 76-46 run, dominating the second half and taking a commanding 3-1 series lead.

Like Game 4 in 1984, the Celtics came back to win a series-changing game in Los Angeles. The rivalry was back, but it was clear that Boston had the upper hand when the two teams met in the Finals for the first time in over 20 years.

3. Game 4, 1969: Jones Over Wilt to Win

Down 2-1 in the series and needing to win Game 4 on their home court, the Celtics trusted Sam Jones to save the season, and he delivered.

Down 88-87, Jones got a shot off with just seconds remaining. The shot arced over Wilt Chamberlain and bounced around the rim and into the basket for the win. Boston went on to win the series in seven games.

2. Game 4, 1987: Magic’s Baby Skyhook

Down by 2 with just seconds remaining, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stepped to the free throw line for two shots and a chance to tie the game. The first was good, the second rimmed out, but the fight for the rebound sent the ball out of bounds, and it was Lakers ball.

L.A. inbounded to Magic, the league MVP that year, and he took the ball into the paint and made a “baby skyhook’’ with 2 seconds to go. Bird’s fall-away prayer at the buzzer was no good, and the Lakers had won. It was perhaps Magic’s most iconic moment in his legendary career.

The Lakers overcame a 16-point deficit to win the game and give the Lakers a 3-1 series lead. Los Angeles won the series in 6 games.

1. Game 5, 1984: The Heat Game

For all of the Celtics/Lakers storylines throughout history – Russell vs. Wilt, Bird vs. Magic, everyone in the city of Boston hating Kareem and then Kobe – no single game captured the gusto of the Celtics franchise like the Heat Game.

Read this in your Boston accent, kids: In a pivotal Game 5 with the series tied 2-2, the Lakers came into the Garden and the whole city (and mother nature) conspired to bring them down. The city was in the midst of a heat wave, and the Garden wasn’t air conditioned.

The flashier, sexier, cleaner Lakers hung tough for a while, but with the temperature inside swelling up to 97 degrees, it was the Celtics that closed strong and withstood the elements. Boston outscored L.A. by 16 points in the second half and won, 121-103.

Grit, heart, whatever you want to call it – those Celtics had it. Kareem needed oxygen on the bench to get his breathing under control, but the hometown team withstood the heat. It’s the game that defines what the old Boston Garden was and what the 80’s Celtics were all about.