Celtics–Lakers rivalry
NBA rivalry / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Celtics–Lakers rivalry is a National Basketball Association (NBA) rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Celtics and the Lakers are the two most storied franchises in the NBA, and the rivalry has been called the greatest in the league.[2] The teams have met a record 12 times in the NBA Finals, with their first such meeting being in 1959. They would both go on to dominate the league in the 1960s and 1980s, facing each other in the Finals six times in the 1960s, three times in the 1980s, and twice since the year 2000.
First meeting | November 9, 1948 Celtics 77, Lakers 55 |
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Latest meeting | February 1, 2024 Lakers 114, Celtics 105 |
Next meeting | TBA |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 374 |
All-time series | 209–165 (BOS) |
Regular season series | 166–134 (BOS)[1] |
Postseason results | 43–31 (BOS) |
Longest win streak | BOS W18 |
Current win streak | LAL W1 |
Postseason history | |
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The two teams have won the two highest numbers of championships in the NBA: the Celtics have won 18, and the Lakers have won 17 (12 in Los Angeles and 5 in Minneapolis). Together, they account for 35 of the 78 championships (or 45%) in NBA history, and were tied for the most titles with 17 apiece from 2020 until 2024. As of the 2023 offseason, the Celtics and Lakers have a .5918 and .5915 all-time winning records respectively. As of the end of the 2023–24 season, Boston is the only team with a winning overall record against the Lakers.[3]
The rivalry became slightly less intense when Larry Bird and Magic Johnson both retired in the early 1990s. However, the intensity picked up again in 2008, when the two teams met in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1987, with the Celtics winning the series 4–2.[4] They met again in the 2010 NBA Finals, which the Lakers won in 7 games. Although the rivalry is primarily known for the Finals meetings of the past, the two teams remain hated rivals to this day.