BCBoston Celtics

Franchise history

Founded on June 6, 1946, the Celtics were one of the eleven original franchises of the Basketball Association of America (which merged with the National Basketball League in 1949 to form the NBA). Original owner Walter Brown chose the name "Celtics" to honor Boston's large Irish immigrant population and to evoke the old barnstorming "Original Celtics" club of the 1920s. For its first decade the franchise was mediocre, but everything changed with the 1956 acquisition of center Bill Russell via a trade with the St. Louis Hawks. Paired with player-coach Red Auerbach's disciplined, defense-first system and Bob Cousy's playmaking, Russell anchored a run of eight consecutive championships from 1959 to 1966, then two more (1968, 1969) as player-coach himself — the first Black head coach in major American pro sports.

After a fallow 1970s, Larry Bird's 1979 arrival sparked a second golden age; alongside Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, Bird's Celtics won titles in 1981, 1984, and 1986 amid a defining rivalry with Magic Johnson's "Showtime" Lakers. A long championship drought followed, ending only in 2008 when a retooled roster of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen beat the Lakers for banner 17. Boston reclaimed the NBA lead in titles — 18, still the most of any franchise — in 2024 behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, defeating Dallas.

Sources

• History of the Boston Celtics — Wikipedia
• Boston Celtics — Britannica

NBA Champions won (18)

• 1956-57
• 1958-59
• 1959-60
• 1960-61
• 1961-62
• 1962-63
• 1963-64
• 1964-65
• 1965-66
• 1967-68
• 1968-69
• 1973-74
• 1975-76
• 1980-81
• 1983-84
• 1985-86
• 2007-08
• 2023-24

Runner-up finishes (5)

• 1957-58
• 1984-85
• 1986-87
• 2009-10
• 2021-22

See the full nba champions list for the winner each of these years.