1986 NBA Finals- Celtics Defeat Rockets

The 1986 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1985-86 NBA season.

It pitted the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics against the Western Conference champion Houston Rockets. The Celtics defeated the Rockets four games to two to win their 16th NBA championship. The championship would be the Celtics' last until the 2008 NBA Finals. Larry Bird was named the Finals MVP.
On another note, this series marked the first time the "NBA Finals" branding was used, as they dropped the "NBA World Championship" branding which had been in use since the beginning of the league.
CBS Sports used Dick Stockton and Tom Heinsohn as the play-by-play man and color commentator respectively. Meanwhile, Brent Musburger was the host and Pat O'Brien (the Rockets' sideline) and Lesley Visser (the Celtics' sideline) were the sideline reporters.

The 1986 Boston Celtics team, which finished the regular season 67-15, is generally considered to be the best of Larry Bird's career. Under head coach K.C. Jones, the 1986 Celtics were certainly the deepest team of Bird's career. In addition to longtime teammates Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, Bird was joined on the front line by former NBA MVP Bill Walton. Despite a career plagued by a series of serious injuries to his knees, ankles and chiefly his feet, Walton would win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1986 appearing in a career high 80 games. The backcourt was almost equally talented, led by defensive stopper Dennis Johnson and shooting guard Danny Ainge. Off the bench, the Celtics featured former All-Star Scott Wedman and recent acquisition (from the Indiana Pacers) Jerry Sichting.
The Celtics steamrolled through the Eastern Conference Playoffs, sweeping the Chicago Bulls 3-0 in the first round. The highlight of the first round was undoubtedly the Celtics double-overtime classic game 2. Matched up against a far superior Celtics team, Michael Jordan exploded for 63 points at the Boston Garden and nearly lead his team to a stunning upset. The Celtics prevailed 135-131, and finished the series off two days later in Chicago. Then Boston defeated the young Atlanta Hawks four games to one in the semifinals, highlighted by a game 5 blowout (132-99), that featured the Celtics hammering the Hawks in the third quarter by a score of 36-6.
The Eastern Conference Finals matched the Celtics up against the Milwaukee Bucks and head coach Don Nelson, a former Celtic player who enraged the Celtics in the 1983 NBA Playoffs by accusing Celtic guard Danny Ainge of "dirty" play. The Celtics got their revenge, sweeping the Bucks easily. The Bucks and the Celtics met in the Playoffs four times during the Larry Bird era (1983, 1984, 1986 and 1987), and Boston won three of four (Milwaukee swept Boston in the 1983 Playoffs).

The Houston Rockets, led by Hakeem Olajuwon, Ralph Sampson, and head coach Bill Fitch, won the Western Conference Championship in five games over the Los Angeles Lakers. Houston was entering the NBA Finals for only the second time in their history. Their last appearance was in 1981 against their 1986 opponents, the Boston Celtics. The season took an unexpected turn when the Houston Rockets eliminated the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, four games to one. Los Angeles had reshuffled its team in the off-season by releasing Bob McAdoo and Jamaal Wilkes picking up veteran power forward Maurice Lucas in a trade, and rookie A. C. Green through the draft. The Lakers got off to a good start on their way to a 62-20 record, but complacency had begun to set in by playoff time as the Lakers blew out pretty much everyone they played. The Rockets, on the other hand, played with confidence and enthusiasm. With Bill Fitch as coach, they sported the original "Twin Towers," 7-foot-4 Ralph Sampson at power forward and 7'0 Hakeem Olajuwon at center. Jim Petersen backed up the Twin Towers, while Robert Reid and Rodney McCray shared time at small forward. The guards included Mitchell Wiggins, Lewis Lloyd and Allen Leavell and John Lucas before being suspended by the league for violating the leagues drug policy.

The Houston Rockets, led by Hakeem Olajuwon, Ralph Sampson, and head coach Bill Fitch, won the Western Conference Championship in five games over the Los Angeles Lakers. Houston was entering the NBA Finals for only the second time in their history. Their last appearance was in 1981 against their 1986 opponents, the Boston Celtics. The season took an unexpected turn when the Houston Rockets eliminated the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, four games to one. Los Angeles had reshuffled its team in the off-season by releasing Bob McAdoo and Jamaal Wilkes picking up veteran power forward Maurice Lucas in a trade, and rookie A. C. Green through the draft. The Lakers got off to a good start on their way to a 62-20 record, but complacency had begun to set in by playoff time as the Lakers blew out pretty much everyone they played. The Rockets, on the other hand, played with confidence and enthusiasm. With Bill Fitch as coach, they sported the original "Twin Towers," 7-foot-4 Ralph Sampson at power forward and 7'0 Hakeem Olajuwon at center. Jim Petersen backed up the Twin Towers, while Robert Reid and Rodney McCray shared time at small forward. The guards included Mitchell Wiggins, Lewis Lloyd and Allen Leavell and John Lucas before being suspended by the league for violating the leagues drug policy.

The Larry Bird led Celtics would defeat the Rockets again 4 games to 2 in the 1986 NBA Finals. The Celtics dominated the first two games at the Boston Garden, where they had gone 40-1 during the regular season. The Rockets had been almost as good at home during the season, and they defeated the Celtics 106-104 in game three. Game 4 would be a tense battle at the Summit and the Celtics prevailed 106-103, with Bill Walton coming off the bench to spell a tired Robert Parish to score a crucial basket. The infamous fifth game featured the signature moment of the series, when 7'4" Ralph Sampson ignited a brawl with Jerry Sichting, a player 15 inches (380 mm) shorter than he, ultimately leading to Sampson's ejection. While Jim Petersen would lead the Rockets to a decisive victory, Sampson's actions would motivate the Celtics to end the series in six. Bird would dismantle the Rockets in game 6, as the Garden crowd booed every time Sampson touched the ball. The Celtics blew out the Rockets 114-97 in a game that wasn't as close as the score would indicate.
Bird was named the Finals' MVP for that year, averaging 24 points, 9.7 rebounds, 9.7 assists and 2.7 steals per game for the series. It was the Celtics' 16th championship in 40 years and it was their last championship before winning their 17th NBA championship in 2008.

The 1985-86 Boston Celtics boasted one of the strongest, deepest frontcourts in NBA history, thanks to a daring trade that united the game's best passing center with its best passing forward. Acquiring Bill Walton from the Clippers in exchange for Cedric Maxwell was a gutsy move. For all his passing skills and brilliant all-around game, Walton usually was injured -- he had never played more than 67 games in any of his 11 pro seasons, and he had missed three full seasons due to injury.

1985-86 SEASON RESULTS
RECORD (PCT.)
67-15 (.817)
FIRST ROUND
Celtics 3, Bulls 0
CONFERENCE SEMIS
Celtics 4, Hawks 1
CONFERENCE FINALS
Celtics 4, Bucks 0
NBA FINALS
Celtics 4, Rockets 2

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

1985-86 Celtics: Play

But Celtics President Red Auerbach recognized that the upside overshadowed the risk, and that Walton's versatility could strengthen the Celtics in so many ways. He gave them a first-class center that enabled Head Coach K.C. Jones to give Robert Parish the rest he needed, and his emphasis on passing and team play helped him mesh well with the Celtics' talented scorers. Plus he knew how to win, having done so at UCLA and with the Portland Trail Blazers.

The acquisition of Walton, like that of versatile, team-oriented guard Dennis Johnson two years earlier, seemed to bring out the best in Larry Bird, the ultimate team-first player. Walton's great passing skills enhanced those of Bird, and when they were on the court together the ball would move from player to player with speed and precision till an open shooter was found. Bird enjoyed one of his finest seasons, ranking among the league leaders in five categories-fourth in scoring (25.8 ppg), seventh in rebounding (9.8 rpg), ninth in steals (2.02 spg), first in free throw percentage (.896) and fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.423). For good measure, he led the Celtics in assists at 6.8 apg. The result was a third consecutive Most Valuable Player award, putting Bird alongside Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to win it three years in a row.

Bird and Walton teamed with veteran center Robert Parish, offensive-minded forward Kevin McHale and talented Scott Wedman, a classic small forward who had been an All-Star and top scorer in Kansas City, in a formidable five-man frontcourt rotation that nobody in the NBA could match. In the backcourt were Johnson and Danny Ainge, two big guards who could play harassing defense and provide double-figure scoring while focusing on feeding the front line, with scrappy Jerry Sichting in reserve.

The result was a unit that won 67 games, a record for the fabled Celtics franchise. McHale averaged 21.3 ppg and 8.1 rpg, Parish had 16.1 ppg and a 9.1 ppg, and Johnson (15.6) and Ainge (10.1) also scored in double figures. Wedman contributed 8.0 ppg off the bench, and Walton played in a career-high 80 games and averaged 7.6 ppg and 6.8 rpg. Boston led the league in rebounding with 46.4 rpg, nearly five per game more than its opponents. And the Celtics were virtually unbeatable at home, losing only a game in December to Portland en route to a league-record 40-1 home mark (they would also win all 10 home playoff games).

Boston breezed through the first three rounds of the playoffs, losing only one game, but an anticipated rematch with the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers was denied when the Houston Rockets knocked off the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. In the NBA Finals, the Celtics' deep frontcourt contained the Rockets' Twin Towers of Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon, and Boston grabbed control of the series by shooting 66 percent from the field to win Game 1 and then pulling away from Houston in the second half for a 117-95 decision in Game 2. After the Rockets took Game 3, Boston met the challenge with a 106-103 win at Houston in Game 4 and eventually wrapped up the title in six games, winning the finale 114-97 behind a triple-double of 29 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists by Bird, the NBA Finals MVP. It was Boston's second championship in three years, the third (and last) of the Bird-Parish-McHale era and the franchise's 16th overall.

The Boston Celtics defeated the Houston Rockets four games to two in the best-of-seven NBA Finals series to conclude the 1985-86 NBA season. The victory gave Boston its league-record 16th NBA Championship, but it would be the last for the Celtics until 2008.

The Rockets were making their second Finals appearance in franchise history, having lost to the Celtics in 1981.

Larry Bird won NBA Finals MVP honors, the second time in his career he earned the award. At the time, he was just the fourth player to win the award multiple times, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Willis Reed.

The Celtics had home-court advantage for the Finals. Boston swept the two regular-season meetings between the teams in 1985-86.