Silver Screen And Roll, A Los Angeles Lakers Community

This would prove critical as the Celtics held on and triumphed 108â€"106. With Bill Russell and Sam Jones in their final season, and plagued with injuries, the Celtics struggled to make the NBA playoffs as the fourth and final seed in the Eastern Conference. They upset the 76ers in the first round and postponed New York's finals appearance for another year.
Remarkably, Boston would pull away and entered the fourth quarter up by 18. It seemed to be over when Lakers center Wilt Chamberlain was injured and replaced by reserve Mel Counts. The Celtics, however, would begin to show their age when they began missing shots and turning the ball over and Laker Jerry West pulled L. A.
In the 2020 playoffs, the Celtics reached the Eastern Conference Finals against Miami, losing in 6 games, while the Lakers defeated the Heat in the 2020 NBA Finals to become NBA champions. The Celtics signed Shaquille O'Neal for the 2010â€"2011 season to replace the injured Kendrick Perkins, adding to the rivalry by bringing the Shaq-Kobe feud to the Celtics-Lakers.
During a game against the Lakers on February 11, 2011, Ray Allen became the all-time NBA leader in total 3-point field goals made. However, both the Lakers and Celtics would be eliminated in the second round of the playoffs that year by the 2011 NBA Finals participants, the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat, respectively. The following year they would again both be eliminated by the eventual 2012 NBA Finals participants, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat, respectively. With the disbanding of Boston's Big Three, and anticipated changes to the Lakers' roster, some believe that the 2011â€"12 NBA season was the last chapter of the current Celticsâ€"Lakers rivalry.

Awaiting the Celtics were the powerful Los Angeles Lakers who had a nucleus of Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and newly acquired Wilt Chamberlain. The Celtics won the next three games and looked ready to close out L. A. However, behind the efforts of Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, and Gail Goodrich, the Lakers won the next two games, setting the stage for another classic Game 7 in the Boston Garden.
The Celtics raced out to a huge lead, but down by 16 entering the fourth quarter, and 10 with a minute and a half to go, the Lakers mounted a furious rally in the closing moments which fell just short. The Celtics fended off the late Los Angeles rally to capture the NBA title and send Red Auerbach out a champion. Laker coach Fred Schaus privately fumed that Red's hiring had taken away all of the accolades his Lakers should have received following their tremendous Game 1 win. This was the Boston Celtics' eighth consecutive NBA Championship, a feat unrivaled in North American professional sports.
In the game, the Lakers answered the Celtics rough tactics when Worthy shoved Cedric Maxwell into a basket support. In the game the Lakers rallied from a 14-point deficit to three points down with one minute remaining, when Maxwell knocked the ball away from Magic Johnson. Dennis Johnson responded by sinking two free throws to seal the Celtics' victory. Boston played tough through the first half and would keep the game close, with a score of 60â€"60.
The rivalry was also significant because it drew national attention to the faltering NBA. Prior to Johnson and Bird's arrival, the NBA had gone through a decade of declining interest and low TV ratings. With the two future Hall of Famers, the league won a whole generation of new fans. In every single NBA Finals series during the 1980s, either the Lakers or the Celtics were present. The following year, the Lakers finally had their revenge, winning the 1985 NBA Finals by taking Main 6 in Boston Garden, becoming the only visiting team to win an NBA championship in that arena.
Despite finishing second in the division standings for the first time in a decade, Boston would return to the Finals for a record tenth straight time. Unlike their previous two encounters, the Celtics dominated the Lakers, who were playing without an injured Elgin Baylor, and only Game 2 had a close score. The Celtics would win the series in Game 5 with a 129â€"96 victory over the Lakers. This was the largest margin of victory in a deciding Finals main, and would not be broken until 2008, when the Celtics defeated the Lakers once again by a score of 131â€"92.
Despite having numerous opportunities, the Lakers couldn't get over the hump and Don Nelson would make an incredible foul-line jump-shot which bounced off the back iron and fell in. During this, another battle was heating up off the court between Jack Kent Cooke and Lakers coach Butch Van Breda Kolff. Chamberlain was pleading for Breda Kolff to put him back in, but he refused. Cooke then came down to personally order the defiant coach to insert Wilt, but to no avail.