1966 NBA Finals

The 1966 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the 1966 NBA playoffs, which concluded the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1965–66 season. The Eastern Division champion Boston Celtics faced the Western Division champion Los Angeles Lakers in a best-of-seven series that the Celtics won four games to three. For the Celtics this was their tenth straight finals appearance, which tied a North American professional sports record set by the NHL's Montreal Canadiens from 1951 to 1960, and the NFL's Cleveland Browns from 1946 to 1955.

1966 NBA Finals

Bill Russell and Red Auerbach after winning their eighth consecutive NBA title
Team Coach Wins Boston Celtics Red Auerbach 4 Los Angeles Lakers Fred Schaus 3
Dates	April 17–28
Hall of Famers	Celtics: John Havlicek (1984) K. C. Jones (1989) Sam Jones (1984) Don Nelson (2012, coach) Bill Russell (1975) Satch Sanders (2011, contributor) John Thompson (1999, coach) Lakers: Elgin Baylor (1977) Gail Goodrich (1996) Jerry West (1980) Officials: Mendy Rudolph (2007) Earl Strom (1995)
Eastern finals	Celtics defeated 76ers, 4–1
Western finals	Lakers defeated Hawks, 4–3
← 1965 NBA Finals 1967 →

Thus Boston won its eighth consecutive league title, which no other team has achieved in North American professional sports competition. Before Game 2, after the Los Angeles Lakers' comeback overtime win in Game 1, Red Auerbach, who had challenged the entire league to topple the Celtics from their reign by announcing he would retire after the season was over (thus giving his detractors "one last shot" at him), announced Bill Russell as the Celtics' coach for the 1966–67 season. Russell would be the first African American to coach in the NBA. Laker coach Fred Schaus privately fumed that Auerbach's hiring had taken away all of the accolades his Lakers should have received following their tremendous Game 1 win. The Celtics won the next three games and looked ready to close out Los Angeles in Game 5. However, 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 and held off a late Los Angeles rally to capture the NBA title and send Red Auerbach out a champion.

This was the last NBA championship series until 2016 in which a team trailing 3 games to 1 rallied to force a Game 7.

Series summary

Game	Date	Home team	Result	Road team
Game 1	April 17	Boston Celtics	129–133 (OT) (0–1)	Los Angeles Lakers
Game 2	April 19	Boston Celtics	129–109 (1–1)	Los Angeles Lakers
Game 3	April 20	Los Angeles Lakers	106–120 (1–2)	Boston Celtics
Game 4	April 22	Los Angeles Lakers	117–122 (1–3)	Boston Celtics
Game 5	April 24	Boston Celtics	117–121 (3–2)	Los Angeles Lakers
Game 6	April 26	Los Angeles Lakers	123–115 (3–3)	Boston Celtics
Game 7	April 28	Boston Celtics	95–93 (4–3)	Los Angeles Lakers

Celtics win series 4–3

Team rosters

Boston Celtics

1965–66 Boston Celtics roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From SG 21 Ron Bonham 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 192 lb (87 kg) Cincinnati C 11 Mel Counts 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Oregon State G/F 28 Si Green 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Duquesne G/F 17 John Havlicek 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 203 lb (92 kg) Ohio State PG 25 K. C. Jones 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 200 lb (91 kg) San Francisco SG 24 Sam Jones 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 198 lb (90 kg) North Carolina Central SF 12 Willie Naulls 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 225 lb (102 kg) UCLA F 19 Don Nelson 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Iowa C 6 Bill Russell 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) San Francisco SF 16 Satch Sanders 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) NYU PF 18 Woody Sauldsberry 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Texas Southern C/G 20 Larry Siegfried 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Ohio State C 5 John Thompson 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Providence F 12 Ron Watts 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Wake Forest

Head coach Red Auerbach Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Los Angeles Lakers

1965–66 Los Angeles Lakers Western Division Champions roster

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Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From SF 22 Elgin Baylor 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1934-09-16 Seattle PF 15 Bob Boozer 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1937-04-26 Kansas State C 25 Leroy Ellis 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1940-03-10 St. John's SF 33 John Fairchild 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1943-04-28 BYU SG 11 Gail Goodrich 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1943-04-23 UCLA SG 42 Walt Hazzard 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1942-04-15 UCLA C 14 Darrall Imhoff 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1938-10-11 California PG 21 Jim King 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1941-02-07 Tulsa PF 35 Rudy LaRusso 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1937-11-11 Dartmouth PG 44 Jerry West 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1938-05-28 West Virginia C 12 Gene Wiley 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1937-11-12 Wichita State

Head coach Fred Schaus Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster

Box scores

April 17

Boxscore

Los Angeles Lakers 133, Boston Celtics 129 (OT)
Scoring by quarter: 20–34, 41–28, 34–37, 26–22, Overtime: 12–8
Pts: Jerry West 41 Rebs: Elgin Baylor 20 Asts: Gail Goodrich 5		Pts: Bill Russell 28 Rebs: Bill Russell 26 Asts: Sam Jones 9
Los Angeles leads series, 1–0

Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts Attendance: 13,909

April 19

Boxscore

Los Angeles Lakers 109, Boston Celtics 129
Scoring by quarter: 25–35, 22–36, 35–30, 27–28
Pts: Jerry West 18 Rebs: Elgin Baylor 14 Asts: Walt Hazzard 5		Pts: Havlicek, S. Jones 21 each Rebs: Bill Russell 24 Asts: John Havlicek 7
Series tied, 1–1

Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts Attendance: 13,909

April 20

Boxscore

Boston Celtics 120, Los Angeles Lakers 106
Scoring by quarter: 25–29, 32–27, 35–19, 28–31
Pts: Sam Jones 36 Rebs: Bill Russell 19 Asts: Sanders, K. C. Jones 5 each		Pts: Jerry West 34 Rebs: Elgin Baylor 15 Asts: Jim King 6
Boston leads series, 2–1

Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California Attendance: 15,101

April 22

Boxscore

Boston Celtics 122, Los Angeles Lakers 117
Scoring by quarter: 31–27, 35–29, 34–33, 22–28
Pts: John Havlicek 32 Rebs: Bill Russell 18 Asts: Larry Siegfried 7		Pts: Jerry West 45 Rebs: Elgin Baylor 12 Asts: Jerry West 10
Boston leads series, 3–1

Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California Attendance: 15,251

April 24

Boxscore

Los Angeles Lakers 121, Boston Celtics 117
Scoring by quarter: 37–23, 27–35, 26–31, 31–28
Pts: Elgin Baylor 41 Rebs: Elgin Baylor 16 Asts: Jerry West 5		Pts: Bill Russell 32 Rebs: Bill Russell 28 Asts: Siegfried, K. C. Jones 6 each
Boston leads series, 3–2

Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts Attendance: 13,909

April 26

Boxscore

Boston Celtics 115, Los Angeles Lakers 123
Scoring by quarter: 29–32, 29–36, 32–21, 25–34
Pts: John Havlicek 27 Rebs: Bill Russell 23 Asts: K. C. Jones 6		Pts: Jerry West 32 Rebs: Elgin Baylor 14 Asts: Jerry West 7
Series tied, 3–3

Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California Attendance: 15,069

April 28

Boxscore

Los Angeles Lakers 93, Boston Celtics 95
Scoring by quarter: 20–27, 18–26, 22–23, 33–19
Pts: Jerry West 36 Rebs: Elgin Baylor 14 Asts: West, Hazzard 3 each		Pts: Bill Russell 25 Rebs: Bill Russell 32 Asts: Sanders, K. C. Jones 3 each
Boston wins series, 4–3

Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts Attendance: 13,909

See also

• 1966 NBA playoffs
• 1965–66 NBA season

External links

• 1966 Finals at NBA.com
• 1966 NBA Playoffs at Basketball-Reference.com