1962-63 NBA Finals

Result

Games

Finals MVP

The Finals MVP award was not introduced until 1969; no Finals MVP was named for this series.

Series context

The 1962-63 Finals was a rematch of the previous year's thrilling seven-game series, again pairing Boston (58-22) against Los Angeles (53-27), though this time it was a comparatively quicker six-game affair. Boston opened with a hard-fought 117-114 win in Game 1 and followed with a 113-106 victory in Game 2 to take a commanding 2-0 lead. The Lakers responded emphatically in Game 3, winning 119-99, but the Celtics regained control in Game 4, 108-105. Los Angeles forced a Game 6 by winning Game 5, 126-119, but Boston closed out the championship on the road, 112-109, behind a strong finish. Elgin Baylor and Jerry West again shouldered the Lakers' offense, but it was not enough to overcome Boston's collective strength. Bill Russell was once more the anchor for the champions, pulling down 326 rebounds across the series and grabbing 24 boards in the decisive Game 6, and he capped the campaign by winning his fourth regular-season MVP award. This series also carried extra emotional weight: it was the last Finals series coached by Red Auerbach, who stepped away from the sideline after the season (though he remained the team's general manager), having led Boston to nine championships as head coach. For the Celtics, this was their sixth title overall and the fifth of the eight-year championship streak that ran from 1959 to 1966, extending their streak of consecutive Finals appearances to seven. Los Angeles, despite having arguably the league's most explosive offensive duo in Baylor and West, fell to Boston in the Finals for the second straight year, continuing what would become a painful decade-long pattern for the franchise against the Celtics dynasty. The Syracuse Nationals, who had been a perennial Eastern power earlier in the era, did not factor into this Finals and in fact would relocate to Philadelphia to become the 76ers beginning with the very next season, reshaping the Eastern Division landscape that would soon produce Wilt Chamberlain's return to a Boston rivalry. The series also closed the storied career of Bob Cousy, who had announced his retirement earlier that season and was feted with an emotional pregame 'Cousy Day' ceremony at Boston Garden in March 1963, capped by fans chanting 'We love ya, Cooz.' Cousy's actual final game came in the road-clinching Game 6 win in Los Angeles on April 24, 1963; he sprained his left ankle in the fourth quarter and briefly left the game as the Lakers cut Boston's lead to one point, but he returned for the final five minutes to help close it out, famously dribbling out the clock and flinging the ball into the air as the buzzer sounded on his 13-year, six-championship career. At 34, Cousy had entered the playoffs facing public doubts about Boston's age, with Sports Illustrated having declared the Boston Celtics were an old team, making his farewell all the more fitting a rebuttal.

Sources

• Wikipedia - 1963 NBA Finals
• Basketball-Reference - 1963 NBA Finals
• NBA.com - History: Cousy leads Celtics to 1963 title