Summary
The Celtics and Lakers were on a collision course all season. Boston won a league-high 63 games and the Lakers were only one game short of that. The Milwaukee Bucks, with 59 victories, were another team to be reckoned with, but they were swept by the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semi-finals and the Celtics then beat Philadelphia in five games to advance to the finals.
The Lakers also took a five-game victory, over the Denver Nuggets, for their conference championship to set up the ninth title confrontation between the two teams. The Celtics had won the previous eight.
It looked as if Boston would make it nine after they blew out the Lakers, 148-114, in the first game.
But that was a wakeup call for the Lakers. Led by a suddenly rejuvenated 38-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, they took the second game in Boston and then blew the Celtics out, 136-111, in Game 3 at Los Angeles.
The Celtics came back to even the series but the Lakers took a 3-2 lead with a 120-111 win. The series then went back to Boston for two, if necessary. But they weren't. The Lakers won Game 6 and the championship at Boston Garden.
