The 1964–65 Boston Celtics season was the Celtics' 19th season in the NBA. The Celtics finished the season by winning their eighth NBA Championship, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in five games. In 1996, the team was named one of the 10 greatest teams in NBA history. In addition five players were inducted into the Hall of Fame - K. C. Jones, Sam Jones, Tom Heinsohn, Bill Russell, and John Havlicek. Sam Jones, Havlicek, and Russell were selected as among the NBA's 50 greatest players. Both Red Auerbach and John Thompson were elected into the Hall of Fame as coaches.

On December 26, 1964, the Celtics fielded the first all-Black starting lineup in NBA history.

This season is best noted for Havlicek's heroic "steal" of the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 of the Eastern Division final, immortalized in a commentary by Johnny Most where he exclaims that "Havlicek stole the ball." This is considered one of the greatest NBA moments, and its importance over time was overshadowed by the subsequent finals between the Celtics and Lakers (of which there were many played in that era). Despite this, HoopsHype would rank this squad as the team with the tenth-easiest route to the NBA Finals championship in 2024 due to the record that the 76ers had at the time they met in the Playoffs.

Offseason

NBA draft The 1965 NBA draft took place on May 4, 1964. Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club team 1 7 Mel Counts Center / Forward Oregon State 2 16 Ron Bonham Forward Cincinnati

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Game log 1964–65 game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 October 17 Detroit 81–112 Bill Russell (19) 1–0 2 October 22 N Detroit 102–104 Sam Jones (23) 2–0 3 October 24 Baltimore 103–131 Sam Jones (28) 3–0 4 October 25 @ Baltimore 112–100 Sam Jones (26) 4–0 5 October 27 @ New York 131–103 Sam Jones (30) 5–0 6 October 28 @ St. Louis 119–117 Sam Jones (27) 6–0 7 October 30 @ Detroit 106–90 Sam Jones (28) 7–0 8 October 31 Cincinnati 94–122 Sam Jones (22) 8–0 9 November 7 Detroit 113–130 Heinsohn, S. Jones (18) 9–0 10 November 8 @ Cincinnati 106–103 Sam Jones (26) 10–0 11 November 11 San Francisco 84–110 Larry Siegfried (20) 11–0 12 November 12 N Philadelphia 110–109 Sam Jones (24) 11–1 13 November 13 Los Angeles 114–112 Sam Jones (32) 11–2 14 November 14 @ Philadelphia 113–102 John Havlicek (24) 12–2 15 November 17 @ Baltimore 99–102 Sam Jones (33) 12–3 16 November 18 St. Louis 97–100 John Havlicek (26) 13–3 17 November 20 N New York 120–127 Sam Jones (29) 14–3 18 November 21 N Philadelphia 108–96 Sam Jones (29) 14–4 19 November 25 San Francisco 118–122 Sam Jones (30) 15–4 20 November 26 @ St. Louis 98–110 John Havlicek (21) 15–5 21 November 28 Cincinnati 98–129 John Havlicek (19) 16–5 22 December 1 @ New York 117–113 (OT) Sam Jones (37) 17–5 23 December 2 New York 91–116 Heinsohn, S. Jones (20) 18–5 24 December 4 @ San Francisco 85–112 Mel Counts (15) 18–6 25 December 5 @ San Francisco 105–81 Sam Jones (22) 19–6 26 December 8 @ Los Angeles 108–98 John Havlicek (25) 20–6 27 December 10 @ Cincinnati 116–101 Sam Jones (22) 21–6 28 December 11 @ Philadelphia 118–109 Sam Jones (33) 22–6 29 December 12 Baltimore 99–112 Heinsohn, S. Jones (27) 23–6 30 December 15 N St. Louis 109–124 Sam Jones (26) 24–6 31 December 16 San Francisco 106–107 Sam Jones (32) 25–6 32 December 17 N New York 113–112 John Havlicek (23) 25–7 33 December 19 @ St. Louis 115–105 Sam Jones (28) 26–7 34 December 25 N Detroit 106–118 Sam Jones (34) 27–7 35 December 26 @ St. Louis 97–84 Sam Jones (32) 28–7 36 December 27 N Detroit 106–112 Sam Jones (40) 29–7 37 December 28 Los Angeles 112–133 Willie Naulls (22) 30–7 38 December 30 @ Baltimore 121–114 Sam Jones (37) 31–7 39 January 2 @ Detroit 101–89 John Havlicek (23) 32–7 40 January 3 @ Cincinnati 89–85 Sam Jones (31) 33–7 41 January 6 St. Louis 106–138 Ron Bonham (19) 34–7 42 January 7 @ Los Angeles 112–104 Sam Jones (33) 35–7 43 January 8 @ San Francisco 94–91 Bill Russell (22) 36–7 44 January 9 @ Los Angeles 107–103 John Havlicek (24) 37–7 45 January 15 Philadelphia 95–104 Sam Jones (29) 38–7 46 January 17 Cincinnati 98–101 Sam Jones (30) 39–7 47 January 20 @ Baltimore 131–105 Sam Jones (34) 40–7 48 January 22 San Francisco 94–104 Willie Naulls (24) 41–7 49 January 23 N Philadelphia 104–100 Sam Jones (35) 41–8 50 January 24 Los Angeles 93–117 Sam Jones (27) 42–8 51 January 25 N Baltimore 142–104 Sam Jones (27) 43–8 52 January 27 Philadelphia 98–115 Sam Jones (29) 44–8 53 January 29 @ Philadelphia 105–118 John Havlicek (25) 44–9 54 January 30 @ New York 97–90 Sam Jones (25) 45–9 55 January 31 New York 95–123 John Havlicek (22) 46–9 56 February 3 Baltimore 122–114 John Havlicek (38) 46–10 57 February 5 Cincinnati 113–114 Sam Jones (32) 47–10 58 February 7 Los Angeles 97–101 Sam Jones (27) 48–10 59 February 9 @ Cincinnati 121–134 Sam Jones (28) 48–11 60 February 10 @ Detroit 117–106 John Havlicek (33) 49–11 61 February 12 New York 92–94 (OT) Sam Jones (34) 50–11 62 February 13 @ New York 113–123 Sam Jones (44) 50–12 63 February 14 Baltimore 111–126 Sam Jones (35) 51–12 64 February 17 St. Louis 114–121 Sam Jones (32) 52–12 65 February 18 N St. Louis 109–119 John Havlicek (28) 53–12 66 February 20 @ San Francisco 114–108 John Havlicek (27) 54–12 67 February 21 @ Los Angeles 114–129 Sam Jones (29) 54–13 68 February 24 @ Los Angeles 97–95 Sam Jones (27) 55–13 69 February 26 @ San Francisco 130–112 Sam Jones (26) 56–13 70 February 28 @ St. Louis 108–102 Tom Heinsohn (23) 57–13 71 March 3 Los Angeles 104–102 Sam Jones (28) 57–14 72 March 5 @ Baltimore 124–128 (OT) Sam Jones (38) 57–15 73 March 6 @ Philadelphia 98–103 Havlicek, S. Jones (21) 57–16 74 March 7 Philadelphia 111–133 Sam Jones (27) 58–16 75 March 10 @ Detroit 124–106 Sam Jones (28) 59–16 76 March 11 N Detroit 100–112 Bill Russell (27) 60–16 77 March 12 @ Cincinnati 108–118 Sam Jones (32) 60–17 78 March 14 San Francisco 98–106 Sam Jones (24) 61–17 79 March 17 @ New York 114–119 Sam Jones (28) 61–18 80 March 21 Cincinnati 99–116 Bill Russell (23) 62–18

Playoffs

| 1 | April 4 | Philadelphia | W 108–98 | Tom Heinsohn (23) | Bill Russell (32) | Bill Russell (6) | Boston Garden13,909 | 1–0 |- | 2 | April 6 | @ Philadelphia | L 103–109 | Sam Jones (40) | Bill Russell (16) | Bill Russell (5) | Municipal Auditorium9,790 | 1–1 |- | 3 | April 8 | Philadelphia | W 112–94 | S. Jones, Havlicek (24) | Bill Russell (26) | Bill Russell (8) | Boston Garden13,909 | 2–1 |- | 4 | April 9 | @ Philadelphia | L 131–134 (OT) | Sam Jones (36) | Bill Russell (25) | K. C. Jones (10) | Municipal Auditorium9,294 | 2–2 |- | 5 | April 11 | Philadelphia | W 114–108 | Sam Jones (29) | Bill Russell (28) | K. C. Jones (9) | Boston Garden13,909 | 3–2 |- | 6 | April 13 | @ Philadelphia | L 106–112 | Tom Sanders (25) | Bill Russell (21) | Russell, K. C. Jones (5) | Municipal Auditorium11,182 | 3–3 |- | 7 | April 15 | Philadelphia | W 110–109 | Sam Jones (37) | Bill Russell (8) | K. C. Jones (10) | Boston Garden13,909 | 4–3

| 1 | April 18 | Los Angeles | W 142–110 | Sam Jones (25) | Bill Russell (28) | K. C. Jones (8) | Boston Garden13,909 | 1–0 |- | 2 | April 19 | Los Angeles | W 129–123 | John Havlicek (24) | Bill Russell (25) | Bill Russell (10) | Boston Garden13,909 | 2–0 |- | 3 | April 21 | @ Los Angeles | L 105–126 | Sam Jones (35) | Bill Russell (19) | Larry Siegfried (5) | Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena14,243 | 2–1 |- | 4 | April 23 | @ Los Angeles | W 112–99 | Sam Jones (37) | Bill Russell (23) | Russell, K. C. Jones (5) | Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena15,217 | 3–1 |- | 5 | April 25 | Los Angeles | W 129–96 | S. Jones, Russell (22) | Bill Russell (30) | K. C. Jones (9) | Boston Garden13,909 | 4–1

Awards and honors Bill Russell, NBA Most Valuable Player Award Red Auerbach, NBA Coach of the Year Award Bill Russell, All-NBA First Team Sam Jones, All-NBA Second Team

References

Celtics on Basketball Reference