1966 NBA Finals

North America basketball championship August 2023 Bill Russell and Red Auerbach 1966.jpeg Bill Russell and Red Auerbach after winning their eighth consecutive NBA title NBA 1966 Los Angeles Lakers Fred Schaus 3 Boston Celtics Red Auerbach 4 April 17–28 Celtics:John Havlicek (1984)K. C. Jones (1989)Sam Jones (1984)Don Nelson (2012, coach)Bill Russell (1975)Satch Sanders (2011, contributor) John Thompson (1999, coach) Lakers:Elgin Baylor (1977)Gail Goodrich (1996)Jerry West (1980)Officials:Mendy Rudolph (2007)Earl Strom (1995) Celtics defeated 76ers, 4–1 Lakers defeated Hawks, 4–3 The 1966 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the 1966 NBA playoffs, which concluded the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1965–66 season. The Eastern Division champion Boston Celtics faced the Western Division champion Los Angeles Lakers in a best-of-seven series that the Celtics won four games to three. For the Celtics this was their tenth straight finals appearance, which tied a North American professional sports record set by the NHL's Montreal Canadiens from 1951 to 1960. Thus Boston won its eighth consecutive league title, which no other team has achieved in North American professional sports competition. Before Game 2, after the Los Angeles Lakers' comeback overtime win in Game 1, Red Auerbach, who had challenged the entire league to topple the Celtics from their reign by announcing he would retire after the season was over (thus giving his detractors "one last shot" at him), announced Bill Russell as the Celtics' coach for the 1966–67 season. Russell would be the first African American to coach in the NBA. Laker coach Fred Schaus privately fumed that Auerbach's hiring had taken away all of the accolades his Lakers should have received following their tremendous Game 1 win. The Celtics won the next three games and looked ready to close out Los Angeles in Game 5. However, the Lakers won the next two games, setting the stage for another classic Game 7 in the Boston Garden. The Celtics raced out to a huge lead and held off a late Los Angeles rally to capture the NBA title and send Red Auerbach out a champion. This was the last NBA Finals until 2016 in which a team trailing 3–1 in the series rallied to force a Game 7. Series summary Game Date Home team Result Road team Game 1 April 17 Boston Celtics 129–133 (OT) (0–1) Los Angeles Lakers Game 2 April 19 Boston Celtics 129–109 (1–1) Los Angeles Lakers Game 3 April 20 Los Angeles Lakers 106–120 (1–2) Boston Celtics Game 4 April 22 Los Angeles Lakers 117–122 (1–3) Boston Celtics Game 5 April 24 Boston Celtics 117–121 (3–2) Los Angeles Lakers Game 6 April 26 Los Angeles Lakers 123–115 (3–3) Boston Celtics Game 7 April 28 Boston Celtics 95–93 (4–3) Los Angeles Lakers Celtics win series 4–3 Team rosters Boston Celtics Boston Celtics 1965–66 #008040 #FFFFFF #FFFFFF #008040 21 Ron Bonham SG 6 5 192 University of Cincinnati USA 11 Mel Counts C 7 0 230 Oregon State University USA 28 Si Green G/F 6 2 185 Duquesne University USA 17 John Havlicek F/G 6 5 203 Ohio State USA 25 K. C. Jones PG 6 1 200 University of San Francisco USA 24 Sam Jones basketball, born 1933 SG 6 4 198 North Carolina Central USA 12 Willie Naulls SF 6 6 225 University of California, Los Angeles USA 19 Don Nelson F 6 6 210 Iowa USA 6 Bill Russell C 6 9 215 San Francisco USA 16 Satch Sanders SF 6 6 210 NYU USA 18 Woody Sauldsberry PF 6 7 220 Texas Southern University USA 20 Larry Siegfried PG/SG 6 3 190 Ohio State USA 5 John Thompson basketball C 6 10 225 Providence College USA 12 Ron Watts F 6 6 210 Wake Forest University USA Red Auerbach Los Angeles Lakers Los Angeles Lakers 1965–66 #0E56A4 #FFFFFF #FFFFFF #0E56A4 22 Elgin Baylor SF 6 5 225 1934-09-16 Seattle University 15 Bob Boozer PF 6 8 215 1937-04-26 Kansas State 25 Leroy Ellis C 6 10 210 1940-03-10 St. John's 33 John Fairchild SF 6 8 205 1943-04-28 BYU 11 Gail Goodrich SG 6 1 170 1943-04-23 UCLA 42 Walt Hazzard SG 6 2 185 1942-04-15 UCLA 14 Darrall Imhoff C 6 10 220 1938-10-11 California 21 Jim King basketball, born 1941 PG 6 2 175 1941-02-07 Tulsa 35 Rudy LaRusso PF 6 7 220 1937-11-11 Dartmouth College 44 Jerry West PG 6 3 175 1938-05-28 West Virginia 12 Gene Wiley C 6 10 210 1937-11-12 Wichita State Fred Schaus https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAL/1966.html Box scores #eee April 17 Boxscore Los Angeles Lakers 133 Boston Celtics 129 OT 20–34 41–28 34–37 26–22 12–8 Jerry West 41 Elgin Baylor 20 Gail Goodrich 5 Bill Russell 28 Bill Russell 26 Sam Jones 9 Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts 13,909 Los Angeles leads series, 1–0 April 19 Boxscore Los Angeles Lakers 109 Boston Celtics 129 25–35 22–36 35–30 27–28 Jerry West 18 Elgin Baylor 14 Walt Hazzard 5 Havlicek, S. Jones 21 each Bill Russell 24 John Havlicek 7 Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts 13,909 Series tied, 1–1 #eee April 20 Boxscore Boston Celtics 120 Los Angeles Lakers 106 25–29 32–27 35–19 28–31 Sam Jones 36 Bill Russell 19 Sanders, K. C. Jones 5 each Jerry West 34 Elgin Baylor 15 Jim King 6 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California 15,101 Boston leads series, 2–1 April 22 Boxscore Boston Celtics 122 Los Angeles Lakers 117 31–27 35–29 34–33 22–28 John Havlicek 32 Bill Russell 18 Larry Siegfried 7 Jerry West 45 Elgin Baylor 12 Jerry West 10 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California 15,251 Boston leads series, 3–1 #eee April 24 Boxscore Los Angeles Lakers 121 Boston Celtics 117 37–23 27–35 26–31 31–28 Elgin Baylor 41 Elgin Baylor 16 Jerry West 5 Bill Russell 32 Bill Russell 28 Siegfried, K. C. Jones 6 each Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts 13,909 Boston leads series, 3–2 April 26 Boxscore Boston Celtics 115 Los Angeles Lakers 123 29–32 29–36 32–21 25–34 John Havlicek 27 Bill Russell 23 K. C. Jones 6 Jerry West 32 Elgin Baylor 14 Jerry West 7 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California 15,069 Series tied, 3–3 #eee April 28 Boxscore Los Angeles Lakers 93 Boston Celtics 95 20–27 18–26 22–23 33–19 Jerry West 36 Elgin Baylor 14 West, Hazzard 3 each Bill Russell 25 Bill Russell 32 Sanders, K. C. Jones 3 each Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts 13,909 Boston wins series, 4–3 See also 1966 NBA playoffs 1965–66 NBA season External links 1966 Finals at NBA.com 1966 NBA Playoffs at Basketball-Reference.com Category:NBA Finals NBA Finals NBA Finals Finals NBA Finals Category:Basketball competitions in Boston Category:Basketball competitions in Los Angeles Category:1960s in Boston NBA Finals NBA Finals NBA Finals Category:Events at the Boston Garden