The Celtics haven't won a title since Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish led them past Houston in 1986. Boston and the Lakers of Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dominated the NBA in the 1980s: From 1980-88, the two rivals won all but one of the nine NBA championships -- three for Boston, five for Los Angeles (and one for the Philadelphia 76ers) -- and met for the title three times in four years.
It will be the 11th championship meeting between the franchises, with
Boston winning eight of its NBA-best 16 titles against the Lakers. But
Los Angeles won the last two, in 1985 and '87.
Here's some more numbers for you to chew on:
0 - Number of titles Kobe Bryant, in the Finals after his first regular season NBA MVP year, has won without Shaquile O'Neal
0 - World title series that Boston's Big 3 - Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen - have played in
2 - Games the Celtics and Lakers played against each this season, Boston won both
3 - Titles won by Lakers with Kobe and Shaq from 2000 thru 2002
11 - Lakers vs. Celtics in the Finals together for the 11th time
14 - Lakers have won 14 championships -- nine in Los Angeles and five in Minneapolis
20 - Celtics showing up for their team's 20th Finals appearance.
24 - The number of wins that Boston mustered in 2006-07 compared to their 66 this year
31 - After this series, the Lakers and Celtics combined will own 31 of the 62 NBA titles
32- Kobe Bryant is averaging 31.9 ppg during the playoff this season
1ec4f94a-2738-46e5-9963-3754f4f02fa7|1|5.0
NBA
celtics, lakers