Celtics Versus Lakers: A Recurring Chapter in American Sports History

The roll call of players in the classic NBA championships between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers is a litany of the greatest names ever to play basketball: Bob Cousy, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, John Havlicek, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, James Worthy. Of course, ten years from now, the names accompanying those on the list will include Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett, the players leading this current incarnation of one of sport's most dynamic rivalries.

There have been sixty-four NBA championships, including this year’s. Collectively, also including this year's series, the Celtics and the Lakers have made fifty-two appearances, meaning that either a Celtics team or a Lakers team has been in the NBA championship more than 80 percent of the time. (This also takes into account the appearances by the Lakers when the franchise was located in Minneapolis—they relocated to Los Angeles in 1960.) Thirty-two of the previous sixty-three championships have been won by either a Celtics or a Lakers team, and after this series, thirty-three of sixty-four championships will belong to one franchise or the other.

The Lakers, in both Minneapolis and Los Angeles, have won fifteen of those championships; the Celtics have won seventeen. In NBA championships where they have played each other, the Celtics lead the series nine titles to two.