The 1966 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the 1966 NBA playoffs, which concluded the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1965–66 season. The Eastern Division champion Boston Celtics faced the Western Division champion Los Angeles Lakers in a best-of-seven series that the Celtics won four games to three. For the Celtics this was their tenth straight finals appearance, which tied a North American professional sports record set by the NHL's Montreal Canadiens from 1951 to 1960.
Thus Boston won its eighth consecutive league title, which no other team has achieved in North American professional sports competition. Before Game 2, after the Los Angeles Lakers' comeback overtime win in Game 1, Red Auerbach, who had challenged the entire league to topple the Celtics from their reign by announcing he would retire after the season was over (thus giving his detractors "one last shot" at him), announced Bill Russell as the Celtics' coach for the 1966–67 season. Russell would be the first African American to coach in the NBA. Laker coach Fred Schaus privately fumed that Auerbach's hiring had taken away all of the accolades his Lakers should have received following their tremendous Game 1 win. The Celtics won the next three games and looked ready to close out Los Angeles in Game 5. However, the Lakers won the next two games, setting the stage for another classic Game 7 in the Boston Garden. The Celtics raced out to a huge lead and held off a late Los Angeles rally to capture the NBA title and send Red Auerbach out a champion.
This was the last NBA Finals until 2016 in which a team trailing 3–1 in the series rallied to force a Game 7.
Series summary Game Date Home team Result Road team Game 1 April 17 Boston Celtics 129–133 (OT) (0–1) Los Angeles Lakers Game 2 April 19 Boston Celtics 129–109 (1–1) Los Angeles Lakers Game 3 April 20 Los Angeles Lakers 106–120 (1–2) Boston Celtics Game 4 April 22 Los Angeles Lakers 117–122 (1–3) Boston Celtics Game 5 April 24 Boston Celtics 117–121 (3–2) Los Angeles Lakers Game 6 April 26 Los Angeles Lakers 123–115 (3–3) Boston Celtics Game 7 April 28 Boston Celtics 95–93 (4–3) Los Angeles Lakers Celtics win series 4–3
Team rosters Boston Celtics
Los Angeles Lakers
Box scores
See also 1966 NBA playoffs 1965–66 NBA season
External links 1966 Finals at NBA.com 1966 NBA Playoffs at Basketball-Reference.com