1985-86 NBA Finals

Result

Games

Finals MVP

Larry Bird. Bird was named Finals MVP for the second consecutive year, averaging 24 points, 9.7 rebounds, 9.7 assists, and 2.7 steals per game.

Series context

The 1985-86 Boston Celtics are frequently cited as one of the greatest teams in NBA history. Boston finished the regular season with an NBA-record 40 home victories, powered by a deep, star-studded roster featuring Larry Bird (who won his third consecutive regular-season MVP award that year), Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Dennis Johnson, and sharpshooter Bill Walton coming off the bench as Sixth Man of the Year. Their opponent in the Finals was the Houston Rockets, who had rebuilt around the "Twin Towers" frontcourt of Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon, a pairing that had powered Houston to a stunning upset of the defending champion Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. This was Houston's first Finals appearance since losing to Boston in 1981. The Celtics dominated the first two games at home, winning both convincingly; in Game 1, Sampson fouled out with just two points, and in Game 2, Bird shot efficiently for 31 points as Boston pulled away with a decisive third quarter. The series shifted to Houston for Game 3, where the Rockets rallied to win 106-104 on a late tip-in by Mitchell Wiggins. Boston answered in Game 4, winning 106-103 after Bird drilled a clutch three-pointer with just over two minutes remaining. Houston forced the series back to Boston with a Game 5 win, but the game is remembered less for the final score and more for Ralph Sampson's ejection after punching Boston's Jerry Sichting, an incident that fueled a hostile Boston Garden crowd for the remainder of the series; Olajuwon still put up a big game in the losing effort. The Celtics closed out the championship in Game 6 at home, winning 114-97 behind a Larry Bird triple-double, while a rattled Sampson scored just a handful of points. The title was Boston's 16th championship, and while no one knew it at the time, it would prove to be the franchise's last for 22 years, until the "Big Three" era Celtics won it all again in 2008. This Celtics squad, anchored by a Hall of Fame-laden roster, is still widely ranked among the very best teams to ever play in the NBA. Boston's 67-15 regular season was itself a showcase of the roster's depth: the Celtics swept Chicago in the first round of the playoffs despite a rookie Michael Jordan setting a playoff scoring record with 63 points in Game 2, then beat Atlanta in five games and swept Milwaukee in the conference finals without much resistance. Houston, seeded lower, swept Sacramento, beat Denver in six games, and then upset the two-time defending Western Conference champion Lakers in five games to reach the Finals. During the series itself, Bird was on the floor for all but 19 of a possible 288 minutes across the six games, averaging 24 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 9.7 assists per game to claim Finals MVP honors. Walton's minutes off the bench were a key factor in Boston's frontcourt depth advantage; his relief work behind Parish and McHale, including a key basket in Boston's Game 4 win in Houston, helped wear down Houston's twin towers over the course of the series. The Sampson-Sichting altercation in Game 5 came with Houston actually leading on the scoreboard, but the ejection and its aftermath are remembered as the moment the series' physical, chippy tone tipped decisively in Boston's favor. In the decades since, this Celtics team has regularly appeared on all-time greatest-team lists alongside the 1996 Bulls and other legendary champions.

Sources

• Wikipedia - 1986 NBA Finals
• Basketball-Reference - 1986 NBA Finals
• StatMuse - Larry Bird 1986 Finals Stats