2008 NBA Finals

The Celtics made their first NBA Finals appearance since a six-game loss to the Lakers in 1987. Over the next 20 years the Celtics endured lean years, not making the playoffs in nine of those years. Following the dissolution of the team's original "Big Three" through the retirements of Larry Bird and Kevin McHale and the departure of Robert Parish, the Celtics suffered through several tragedies such as the passing of Reggie Lewis in 1993; a franchise-worst 15-win 1996–97 season; the ill-fated hiring of head coach Rick Pitino; and the deaths of franchise patriarch Red Auerbach and former player Dennis Johnson, which culminated in a 24-win 2006–07 season, highlighted by a franchise-worst 18 straight losses.

Nevertheless, the 2007 off-season saw Celtics GM Danny Ainge acquire Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to join franchise star Paul Pierce. This new formation became regarded as the most talented Boston Celtics team since the duo of Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce graced the floor of the "Garden" in the early 2000s. The newly formed 'Big Three,' joined by second year point guard and future all star Rajon Rondo, led the Celtics to a dramatic 42-game turnaround, finishing with 66 wins.

In the playoffs, the Celtics were pushed to the brink by the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers, and despite not winning on the road, managed to prevail in a pair of Game 7s on their home court. The Celtics would finally break their road woes in a six-game win against the perennial Eastern Conference powerhouse Detroit Pistons, earning their first finals berth since 1987.

After losing to the Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals, despite a talent-laden roster, Phil Jackson abruptly retired. Soon after, the Lakers decided to rebuild by trading away Shaquille O'Neal to the Miami Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant. The 2004–05 season saw the Lakers miss the playoffs for only the fifth time in team history. Even though he had written a book called The Last Season, going as far as calling Kobe Bryant "uncoachable," Jackson returned to the Lakers for the 2005–06 season. Jackson and Bryant would patch up their differences, but after a pair of first-round exits, Bryant demanded, but later retracted, a trade in the off-season.

The Lakers' 2007–08 season saw the team win 57 games, along the way adding Spanish forward Pau Gasol in mid-season while Andrew Bynum was recovering from a mid-season knee injury. The Lakers eliminated the Denver Nuggets 4–0, then the Utah Jazz 4–2 and then dethroned the erstwhile defending champion San Antonio Spurs 4–1 in the conference finals, making their 29th NBA Finals appearance.

The Boston Celtics won both games in the regular season series:

Note: team in Bold won the game

All times listed below are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4).^[1] If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.

 

Going into the game, LA have found themselves on the road in game 1 for the first time that playoffs. On the other hand, Boston, who were the league's best team, had home court advantage for the series. The game started very tight, with teams trading buckets and turnovers. For Boston, the go-to guy was Kevin Garnett, who had racked up 10 first-quarter points. For the Lakers, Kobe was struggling with his shot, as he went 1/7 for the quarter, but was dishing out assists and playing defense very solid, as he looked to get others involved early. Paul Pierce was also struggling, and has gotten himself into foul trouble early, as he hed 3 points and 3 fouls going into the third quarter.

In the second quarter, Garnett had racked up 8 more points and had already matched his playoff points average at 18.8. Despite Garnett's monstrous efforts, the Celtics found themselves down 51–46 at halftime. The main reason for the Lakers lead was Pau Gasol, who was hitting tough fadeaways and layups, and had also gotten P.J. Brown in foul trouble with his physicality and footwork. On the other hand, Kobe Bryant was a non-factor offensively but was making up for it with the same kind of defense that earned him the 1st team All-defense. The Lakers ended the half on a 10–2 run.

In the beginning of the third quarter, Celtics forward Paul Pierce was injured after a collision with Lakers center Kendrick Perkins. He was taken out of the game with 8:42 left in the quarter. The following offensive possession, Perkins was hit in the leg by the sneaker of Pau Gasol. He soon also left the game. But despite the injuries of their star players, the Celtics went on a 6–0 run and have regained the lead. But then Paul Pierce miraculously came back in the game, reinvigorating the crowd, and carried the Boston Celtics in the third quarter. Following his return Paul Pierce would shoot 6-6 from the field and hit three straight three pointers. He also started cooking from 3-point range, scoring 3 straight threes. Not to ignore the fact that Kobe exploded in that third quarter, hitting and defending shots from anywhere inside the arc, before getting himself in foul trouble late in the third. Paul Pierce scored 15 points on 4-4 shooting from the field in the third quarter to give Boston the lead going into the fourth.

Then in the fourth, the Celtics never trailed. Kobe sitting out the first half of the quarter due to foul trouble allowed Boston to slowly increase the lead all the way up to 10. Garnett's putback dunk over 2 Lakers defenders sealed the Celtics victory, completing his 24 points alongside 13 rebounds performance. For the Lakers, Kobe Bryant had 24 points. The Boston Celtics ended up winning game 1 with a final score of 98–88.

Pierce apparently injured his knee by falling awkwardly on Kendrick Perkins' leg, and was taken off the court in a wheelchair. Despite what Pierce's reaction suggested was a highly debilitating injury, he returned to action minutes later to raucous cheering from the crowd. Pierce admitted during coverage of the 2019 NBA Finals that he just had to use the bathroom.^[2] He soon hit two three-pointers on consecutive offensive possessions that gave Boston the lead for good and finished with 22 points. It was later dubbed by some as the "Wheelchair Game".^[3]

The Lakers, who had had home court advantage throughout the first three rounds and had not trailed a series in that same time, now had to do without both luxuries for the first time.

 

 

From the tip-off, this game was bound to be legendary. One of the first plays of the game has shown us how much the Lakers needed the win here: Kobe ran down the floor after getting the rebound and passing it to Pau Gasol who was posting up Kevin Garnett. He made one drop step, pushed of Garnett with his body, and then went up with it for the and-one poster. The Lakers, led by Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, jumped out to an early 15–8 first quarter lead, when the Celtics brought in sophomore Leon Powe, who was able to bring the Celtics back in the game, as his physical style of play took him to the free-throw line 10 times in his first 3 minutes of action. Despite Powe's heroics, the Lakers could still keep up with the Celtics and have won the first quarter with a score of 22–20.

In the second quarter, the Celtics decided to up the pace, and were able to rack up 10 unanswered points, as their defense has stopped LA's offense who haven't scored for the first 3 minutes of the quarter. The Celtics' defense also forced 9 turnovers by the Lakers (for reference, they had 8 turnovers in all of game 1) Paul Pierce decided to make up for his poor offensive efforts in the first half of game 1, as he scored 16 points in the first half. For the Lakers, Kobe got himself into foul trouble and the technical, which he got for taunting Ray Allen after making a tough lefty layup over him, didn't help. The Lakers team effort was the only thing keeping them alive in this game. The first half ended with the Boston Celtics holding a commanding 54–42 lead.

While the Lakers might have looked like something in the second quarter, that something fell apart in the third. The Celtics have held them scoreless until 7:52 remaining in the third as their lead began getting bigger and bigger. Everything has seemed to be falling for the Celtics, including back-to-back triples by Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Just nobody was there for the Lakers as the Celtics have built up a comfortable 20 point lead to end the third. The exclamation point on the blowout was Leon Powe with back-to-back poster slams over the Lakers' defense.

The Celtics' dominance transferred into the beginning of the fourth, as they jumped to a 24-point lead with little bit more than 7 minutes to play. Vladimir Radmanović and Saša Vujačić started shooting the lights out of the Celtics defense which had fallen asleep in the fourth, and before you knew it, the lead was down to 12. Kobe's shots also started falling, as he scored 22 points in the second half alone. Phil Jackson then decided to go small and has left only Lamar Odom on the court of the big men, and has subbed in 4 of the best shooters that he had. That has showed out to be very effective, as the Lakers would go on a historic 31–9 run spanning 7:34 to the final 38.4 seconds. But all that effort was nothing for Paul Pierce, who seemed unfazed by the pressure, and who has scored 2 free throws with 20 seconds remaining, and then blocked Vujačić's three to potentially make it a one-point game. After the defensive play, James Posey hit two free throws to make it a 6-point game, and then the Celtics proved to have the league's best defense by forcing another Lakers turnover. After a hard-fought battle, the Celtics walked away with a 6-point win and the 2–0 series lead as the series shifted to L.A.

Kobe Bryant finished the game with 30 points and 8 assists. For the Celtics, Paul Pierce scored 28 points, Rajon Rondo had a game-high 16 assists and Leon Powe scored 21 points on 6–7 shooting from the field and 9–13 from the line in 15 minutes of play, including back-to-back dunks in the last minute of the 3rd quarter, but his points weren't much needed for the Celtics at the time, as was his sole presence on the court(for the final 3 minutes of the third quarter, the Boston crowd was chanting his name, so you know just how much impact he left on them). Over the course of the game, Powe shot 13 free throws while the Lakers shot 10.

Despite injuries suffered by Pierce (sprained knee) and Kendrick Perkins (high ankle sprain), both players started in Game 2 and appeared to be mostly unhampered by the injuries, especially Pierce who finished with 28 points.

Boston finished the game 27-for-38 from the line, while the Lakers were 10-for-10. Some analysts viewed this as favorable treatment toward the Celtics,^[4][5] while others noted that a difference in playing styles may have led to the discrepancy, and that the actual foul discrepancy was only 28–21 in favor of Boston.^[6]

The Lakers won game 3 on a strong shooting night from regular season MVP Kobe Bryant, who scored a series-high 36 points, leading the Lakers to their first win of the series and adding to their undefeated streak at home in the 2008 postseason. Saša Vujačić scored 20 points in 28 minutes, Paul Pierce had a poor shooting game, making only two of his 14 field goal attempts. Kevin Garnett also had trouble shooting, finishing with only 12 points. Ray Allen was the only member of Boston's Big Three that scored over 13 points, with 25.

The Lakers jumped out to a 35–14 lead after the first quarter, which was the largest first-quarter lead in NBA Finals history. The Lakers held their ground for most of the third quarter, leading by as many as 24 points. However, the Celtics went on a 21–3 run to end the third quarter, closing the deficit to only two points (73–71). With 4:07 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Celtics took their first lead in the game when Celtics' reserve Eddie House made an 18-foot (5.5 m) jumper. With House's shot, the Celtics were in the lead for good. The Celtics' victory in Game 4 was the largest comeback in the NBA Finals since 1971.^[7]

The Celtics bench outscored the Lakers bench 35–15, 29 of those points coming from House and James Posey. Kevin Garnett finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds in support of Allen (19) and Pierce (20).

As in Game 4, the Lakers jumped out to an early lead, leading 43–24 with 11 minutes to play in the second quarter. And as in Game 4, the Celtics came back, taking a 62–60 lead behind the strong play of Paul Pierce.

The Lakers finally regained their composure, outscoring Boston 24–18 in the 3rd quarter. In previous games, the Lakers were outscored by Boston in the 3rd quarter (22–31 in Game 1, 19–29 in Game 2, 17–25 in Game 3, and 15–31 in Game 4) by a total of 43 points (73–116).

The Lakers built a 14-point lead in the 4th quarter, but the Celtics again came back with a 16–2 run to tie the game at 90. With less than one minute left in the game, the Celtics had the ball with the Lakers leading 97–95. Pierce beat Bryant off the drive, but Bryant knocked the ball out of Pierce's hands from behind. Lamar Odom picked up the loose ball and passed downcourt to Bryant for a breakaway dunk, giving the Lakers a 99–95 lead. The Lakers went on to win 103–98, sending the series back to Boston.

Kobe Bryant had 25 points, to go with five steals. Pau Gasol contributed 19 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists, Odom 20 points and 11 rebounds. For Boston, Pierce had a memorable 38 point effort, but outside of Allen (16 points) and Garnett (13 points and 14 rebounds) did not receive enough support from his teammates to clinch the championship at Staples.^[8]

As for the odds stacked against the Lakers to come back from a 3–1 deficit, Jackson said, "We're young enough and dumb enough to do this."^[9]

 

 

Entering Game 6, the Celtics set a record of most playoff games played in one season, with 26, breaking the previous record of 25 set by both the 1994 New York Knicks, whom Celtics Coach Doc Rivers played for, and the 2005 Detroit Pistons, both of whom lost in their respective finals in seven games (Knicks in 1994, Pistons in 2005).^[10][11] However, for the 1994 Knicks, the first round was a best-of-five. Since the NBA Finals used the 2-3-2 format from 1985 until 2013, no team has ever won the last two games on the road.^[12]

After a rocky first quarter, the Celtics dominated the rest of the game. Maintaining a lead of more than 25 points, the Celtics' Big Three performed phenomenally, while the whole team smothered the Lakers' offense with their tight defense. Boston dominated in numerous statistical categories, including rebounds (48–29, with a 14–2 disparity in offensive boards), turnovers (7–19), steals (18–4), assists (33–16) and blocks (4–0). Five Celtics finished in double figures. Ray Allen hit seven three-pointers to tie what was then the Finals record (which he subsequently broke during the 2010 NBA Finals against the Lakers during game two), Rajon Rondo had an all-around spectacular performance (21 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 6 steals), the Celtics only turned the ball over seven times and set a Finals record with 18 steals, and every Boston player who saw action scored.^[13]

The 39-point margin of victory was the largest ever in an NBA championship-clinching game, breaking the old record of 33, also set by the Celtics over the Lakers in Game Five of the 1965 NBA Finals, 129–96.^[10] This lead was close to the Finals point-spread record set in Game 3 in 1998 where a Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls team beat the Utah Jazz by 42 points, 96–54.^[14][15][16] The Celtics also improved their overall record against the Lakers to 9–2 in Finals meetings, beating them in the Finals for the first time since 1984.^[13]

This was the Celtics' 17th championship, their first since 1986, extending their record for most NBA championships won by a single team. All this capped off the Celtics' best regular season (66–16) since their previous championship season in which they went 67–15. It was also a sense of relief, as the Celtics set an NBA record for most playoff games ever needed to win a championship, with 26, surpassing the previous record of 24 by the Lakers in 1988.^[10]

The Celtics' win was also seen as an addition to the recent success of Boston-area sports teams, following the wins by the New England Patriots in Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVIII, and XXXIX (2001, 2003 and 2004 seasons) and the Red Sox's World Series wins in 2004 (death of the Curse of the Bambino) and 2007.

The Celtics won this series by winning Games 1, 2, 4, and 6; coincidentally, the last time the two teams met in 1987, the Lakers won that series in identical fashion. It was also the same identical fashion when the Celtics won the NBA Finals in 1986 before this championship.

Boston Celtics

Los Angeles Lakers

The Finals, produced by ESPN, were aired on ABC in the United States for the sixth consecutive year. This was also Michele Tafoya's last Finals appearance as a sideline reporter due to her resignation shortly before the 2008–09 season.^[17] She was later succeeded by Doris Burke (2009–19), Rachel Nichols (2020), Malika Andrews (2021), and Lisa Salters (2022–present).

Local TV broadcasts of the competing franchises were Los Angeles' KABC-TV and Boston's WCVB-TV.

In the 2008–09 season, the Celtics got off to an impressive start with a 27–2 record, marking the best start through 29 games in NBA history. However, their momentum halted when they faced the Lakers on Christmas Day in a fateful finals rematch, bringing an end to their franchise-high 19-game winning streak. Shortly after the 2009 All-Star Game, Kevin Garnett suffered a devastating right knee injury which sidelined him for the remainder of the season. Despite finishing the season with 62 wins, the absence of Garnett had a noticeable impact on the team's performance as they were eliminated in seven games by the Dwight Howard-led Orlando Magic in the 2009 Eastern Conference Semifinals.

The Lakers experienced a resurgence in the subsequent season, winning 65 games and clinching the 2009 NBA championship title in five games after overcoming the Dwight Howard-led Orlando Magic. Even though another mid-season injury to Andrew Bynum threatened their title drive, he did come back late in the season. The 2008-09 Los Angeles Lakers became the first team since the 1988–89 Detroit Pistons to win the NBA Finals after losing it in the previous year.

Both teams would eventually meet again in 2010, where the Lakers exacted revenge by finding themselves pitted against the Boston Celtics for the first time in two years. The Lakers avenged their 2008 NBA Finals loss and repeated as NBA Champions after besting Boston in seven games, winning their fifth NBA Championship title in the last ten seasons. The Lakers would not return to the NBA Finals again until a decade later, where the 2019-2020 team, led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis, won the NBA championship. The Celtics would not return to make another appearance in the Finals again until 12 years later in 2022, where the Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum-led team eventually succumbed to the Stephen Curry-led Golden State Warriors in six games. Two years thereafter, the Celtics would reach the NBA Finals yet again in 2024, emerging victorious in a five-game series over the Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving-led Dallas Mavericks, garnering their first championship title in 16 years and 18th overall, effectively consolidating their position as the NBA franchise with the highest number of NBA championship titles.^[18]

• Celtics–Lakers rivalry

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2008 NBA Finals.

• "Official site". NBA.com. Archived from the original on May 1, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)