The hometown Celtics, one of the NBA’s most historic franchises, came up short in a bid for what would have been a league record 18th championship as they lost a hotly contested game 7 to the arch rival Los Angeles Lakers. Still, with the Lakers hoisting only their 16th NBA title, the Celtics remain the league’s “winning-est” team for at least one more season. Well over half of the league’s champions have come from either Boston or Los Angeles, with the Celtics and Lakers combining to take home a remarkable 33 of the 64 championships in NBA history. The two teams have met 12 times in the NBA Finals with the Celtics winning 9 of those 12 times, most recently in 2008 behind the leadership of the current star trio of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.
Over the years both squads have been fortunate enough to feature all-time NBA greats. The Magic Johnson-Larry Bird rivalry came to epitomize the greater rivalry between the two franchises as the Johnson-led Lakers clashed with the Bird-led Celtics 3 times in the mid 80s alone, with the Lakers taking 2 of 3 in the subseries. The intense Celtics vs. Lakers rivalry of the 1980s came to symbolize more than just basketball in some circles, taking on both cultural and racial significance as well. The Celtics featured an unusually high percentage of Caucasian athletes, while the Lakers were constituted of primarily African American players. The two cities also differed in their reputation as well, with Boston taking pride in its blue collar heritage and Los Angeles representing Hollywood luxury and glamour. The two teams came from virtually opposite ends of America’s social spectrum, fueling the fire to what was already one of the most heated feuds in professional sports.
In more recent history, 2010 marked the 2nd time in 3 years the teams have met in the finals, with each club hoisting the championship trophy once at the expense of the other.