# 1966 NBA Finals

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, and the NFL's Cleveland Browns from 1946 to 1955.
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 championship series until 2016 in which a team trailing 3 games to 1 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

## Box scores

* April 17
* Boxscore
Los Angeles Lakers 133, Boston Celtics 129 (OT) :
| Scoring by quarter: 20–34, 41–28, 34–37, 26–22, Overtime: 12–8 |||
| Pts: Jerry West 41 Rebs: Elgin Baylor 20 Asts: Gail Goodrich 5 | Pts: Bill Russell 28 Rebs: Bill Russell 26 Asts: Sam Jones 9 |
| Los Angeles leads series, 1–0 |||
* Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts Attendance: 13,909
* April 19
* Boxscore
Los Angeles Lakers 109, Boston Celtics 129 :
| Scoring by quarter: 25–35, 22–36, 35–30, 27–28 |||
| Pts: Jerry West 18 Rebs: Elgin Baylor 14 Asts: Walt Hazzard 5 | Pts: Havlicek, S. Jones 21 each Rebs: Bill Russell 24 Asts: John Havlicek 7 |
| Series tied, 1–1 |||
* Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts Attendance: 13,909
* April 20
* Boxscore
Boston Celtics 120, Los Angeles Lakers 106 :
| Scoring by quarter: 25–29, 32–27, 35–19, 28–31 |||
| Pts: Sam Jones 36 Rebs: Bill Russell 19 Asts: Sanders, K. C. Jones 5 each | Pts: Jerry West 34 Rebs: Elgin Baylor 15 Asts: Jim King 6 |
| Boston leads series, 2–1 |||
* Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California Attendance: 15,101
* April 22
* Boxscore
Boston Celtics 122, Los Angeles Lakers 117 :
| Scoring by quarter: 31–27, 35–29, 34–33, 22–28 |||
| Pts: John Havlicek 32 Rebs: Bill Russell 18 Asts: Larry Siegfried 7 | Pts: Jerry West 45 Rebs: Elgin Baylor 12 Asts: Jerry West 10 |
| Boston leads series, 3–1 |||
* Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California Attendance: 15,251
* April 24
* Boxscore
Los Angeles Lakers 121, Boston Celtics 117 :
| Scoring by quarter: 37–23, 27–35, 26–31, 31–28 |||
| Pts: Elgin Baylor 41 Rebs: Elgin Baylor 16 Asts: Jerry West 5 | Pts: Bill Russell 32 Rebs: Bill Russell 28 Asts: Siegfried, K. C. Jones 6 each |
| Boston leads series, 3–2 |||
* Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts Attendance: 13,909
* April 26
* Boxscore
Boston Celtics 115, Los Angeles Lakers 123 :
| Scoring by quarter: 29–32, 29–36, 32–21, 25–34 |||
| Pts: John Havlicek 27 Rebs: Bill Russell 23 Asts: K. C. Jones 6 | Pts: Jerry West 32 Rebs: Elgin Baylor 14 Asts: Jerry West 7 |
| Series tied, 3–3 |||
* Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California Attendance: 15,069
* April 28
* Boxscore
Los Angeles Lakers 93, Boston Celtics 95 :
| Scoring by quarter: 20–27, 18–26, 22–23, 33–19 |||
| Pts: Jerry West 36 Rebs: Elgin Baylor 14 Asts: West, Hazzard 3 each | Pts: Bill Russell 25 Rebs: Bill Russell 32 Asts: Sanders, K. C. Jones 3 each |
| Boston wins series, 4–3 |||
* Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts Attendance: 13,909