1984–85 Boston Celtics season
The 1984–85 Boston Celtics season was the 39th season of the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Celtics entered the season as the defending NBA Champions, coming off an NBA Finals victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games, and increasing their NBA Finals victories over the Lakers to 8. On March 3, 1985, Kevin McHale surpassed Larry Bird's Celtics single game scoring record when he netted 56 points against the Detroit Pistons. Less than two weeks later, on March 12, Bird answered, scoring a career-high 60 points against the  Atlanta Hawks. In the playoffs, the Celtics defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in the First Round in four games, the Detroit Pistons in the Semi-finals in six games, and the Philadelphia 76ers in the Conference Finals in five games to advance to the NBA Finals. In the Finals, they faced off against the Los Angeles Lakers, the team who they beat in last season's NBA Finals in seven games, and have beaten a total of 8 consecutive times in their NBA Finals matchups. However, the Celtics were defeated in six games by the Lakers, marking the first time the  Celtics were defeated by the Lakers in the NBA Finals. This also marked the only time the Celtics lost the NBA Finals at home. Trivia. A majority of this team moved onto coaching later in their careers. Kevin McHale, Rick Carlisle, Larry Bird, Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, and Sam Vincent have all coached in the NBA. Player statistics. Regular season. <nowiki>*</nowiki> – Recorded statistics when playing for Boston