# 1965 NBA Finals

The 1965 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the 1965 NBA playoffs, which concluded the National Basketball Association 1964–65 season. The best-of-seven series was played between the Western Division champion Los Angeles Lakers and the Eastern Division champion Boston Celtics. The Celtics made their ninth-straight trip to the championship finals after beating the Philadelphia 76ers in a highly contested Eastern Division Finals that ended on John Havlicek's steal of the ball. The Lakers made it to their third Finals in four seasons after beating Baltimore in six games, though it came at a cost as Elgin Baylor suffered a knee injury that would sideline him for the rest of the playoffs. The Celtics won the series over the Lakers, 4–1.

## Series summary

The Celtics' average margin of victory in this series was 12.6 points, as they averaged 123.4 points a game, in contrast to the Lakers' 110.8 points per game.
| Game | Date | Home team | Result | Road team |
| Game 1 | April 18 | Boston Celtics | 142–110 (1–0) | Los Angeles Lakers |
| Game 2 | April 19 | Boston Celtics | 129–123 (2–0) | Los Angeles Lakers |
| Game 3 | April 21 | Los Angeles Lakers | 126–105 (1–2) | Boston Celtics |
| Game 4 | April 23 | Los Angeles Lakers | 99–112 (1–3) | Boston Celtics |
| Game 5 | April 25 | Boston Celtics | 129–96 (4–1) | Los Angeles Lakers |
Celtics win series 4–1
Source:

## Box scores

* April 18
* Boxscore
Los Angeles Lakers 110, Boston Celtics 142 :
| Scoring by quarter: 23–32, 26–32, 34–39, 27–39 |||
| Pts: Jerry West 26 Rebs: Gene Wiley 14 Asts: Walt Hazzard 5 | Pts: Sam Jones 25 Rebs: Bill Russell 28 Asts: K. C. Jones 8 |
| Boston leads series, 1–0 |||
* Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts Attendance: 10,180
* April 19
* Boxscore
Los Angeles Lakers 123, Boston Celtics 129 :
| Scoring by quarter: 29–35, 31–27, 29–39, 34–28 |||
| Pts: Jerry West 45 Rebs: Gene Wiley 15 Asts: Jerry West 5 | Pts: John Havlicek 24 Rebs: Bill Russell 25 Asts: Bill Russell 10 |
| Boston leads series, 2–0 |||
* Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts Attendance: 13,909
* April 21
* Boxscore
Boston Celtics 105, Los Angeles Lakers 126 :
| Scoring by quarter: 17–35, 31–33, 26–24, 31–34 |||
| Pts: Sam Jones 35 Rebs: Bill Russell 19 Asts: Larry Siegfried 5 | Pts: Jerry West 43 Rebs: Gene Wiley 28 Asts: Jerry West 7 |
| Boston leads series, 2–1 |||
* Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California Attendance: 14,243
* April 23
* Boxscore
Boston Celtics 112, Los Angeles Lakers 99 :
| Scoring by quarter: 32–24, 23–37, 33–21, 24–17 |||
| Pts: Sam Jones 37 Rebs: Bill Russell 23 Asts: Russell, K. C. Jones 5 each | Pts: LeRoy Ellis 24 Rebs: Gene Wiley 19 Asts: Wiley, Hazzard 5 each |
| Boston leads series, 3–1 |||
* Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California Attendance: 15,217
* April 25
* Boxscore
Los Angeles Lakers 96, Boston Celtics 129 :
| Scoring by quarter: 26–33, 22–24, 23–30, 25–42 |||
| Pts: Jerry West 33 Rebs: Gene Wiley 13 Asts: Walt Hazzard 10 | Pts: S. Jones, Russell 22 each Rebs: Bill Russell 30 Asts: K. C. Jones 9 |
| Boston wins series, 4–1 |||
* Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts Attendance: 13,909
* Tom Heinsohn's final NBA game.

## Player statistics
### Boston Celtics

Boston Celtics statistics :
| Player | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
| Sam Jones | 5 | 39.8 | .470 | .879 | 4.8 | 2.6 | 27.8 |
| John Havlicek | 5 | 30.2 | .391 | .864 | 5.6 | 2.2 | 18.2 |
| Bill Russell | 5 | 44.2 | .702 | .575 | 25.0 | 5.8 | 17.8 |
| Satch Sanders | 5 | 31.2 | .391 | .682 | 8.8 | 2.0 | 13.8 |
| Tom Heinsohn | 5 | 20.8 | .361 | .556 | 6.4 | 1.8 | 11.4 |
| K. C. Jones | 5 | 31.0 | .460 | .786 | 2.6 | 6.6 | 11.4 |
| Willie Naulls | 5 | 17.4 | .396 | .750 | 4.2 | 1.0 | 9.6 |
| Larry Siegfried | 5 | 13.6 | .341 | .786 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 7.8 |
| John Thompson | 3 | 7.0 | .286 | 1.000 | 4.0 | 0.3 | 3.7 |
| Ron Bonham | 3 | 3.7 | .375 | .800 | 3.7 | 0.0 | 3.3 |
| Mel Counts | 3 | 9.0 | .250 | 1.000 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 2.3 |

### Los Angeles Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers statistics :
| Player | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
| Jerry West | 5 | 42.0 | .424 | .864 | 5.6 | 3.4 | 33.8 |
| LeRoy Ellis | 5 | 39.8 | .421 | .676 | 11.0 | 0.8 | 17.8 |
| Rudy LaRusso | 5 | 32.0 | .531 | .656 | 6.8 | 2.4 | 14.6 |
| Dick Barnett | 5 | 24.4 | .483 | .700 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 14.0 |
| Walt Hazzard | 5 | 20.0 | .326 | .778 | 3.0 | 5.2 | 8.8 |
| Gene Wiley | 5 | 35.4 | .516 | .545 | 17.8 | 2.0 | 7.8 |
| Don Nelson | 5 | 20.6 | .438 | .667 | 5.4 | 1.4 | 7.2 |
| Jim King | 5 | 11.0 | .429 | 1.000 | 2.0 | 1.4 | 4.2 |
| Darrall Imhoff | 5 | 10.8 | .222 | .500 | 2.4 | 0.6 | 1.4 |
| Bill McGill | 5 | 10.0 | .500 | 1.000 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 3.5 |
Source: