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1966 NBA Finals

1966 NBA basketball championship series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1966 NBA Finals
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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.

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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.

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Series summary

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Celtics win series 4–3

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Team rosters

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Boston Celtics

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Los Angeles Lakers

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Box scores

April 17
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
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
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
April 22
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
April 24
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
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
April 28
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
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