It’s a fact: No team has accomplished as much in the NBA Finals as the Boston Celtics. Los Angeles Lakers fans will disagree, but the Celtics have the most championships of any franchise in one city, they’ve won a far better percentage of Finals than the Lakers have, and Boston owns LA in their head-to-head Finals meetings.
As we brace for a Finals showdown with the Dallas Mavericks, we offer up this historical review of how all 17 championship banners made it to the TD Garden rafters, as well as how others didn’t.
Team records
2024 is the Celtics 23rd trip to the Finals.
They’ve won 17 and lost five.
Longest streak: Eight straight championships, 1959-66.
The Cs lost their last two appearances, 2010 and 2022, marking the only time the franchise had lost consecutive Finals series.
Other top title winners in the NBA:
- Lakers 17-15 record
- Warriors 7-5
- Bulls 6-0
- Spurs 5-1
Those five franchises have combined to capture 52 of 77 (67.5%) league championships to date. No other team has more than 3 titles.
Longest championship drought: Sacramento Kings, who won their only title back in 1951 when they were the Rochester (N.Y.) Royals.
Current franchises that have never won the NBA title: Hornets, Suns, Nets, Magic, Jazz, Pacers, Timberwolves, Clippers, Pelicans, Grizzlies.
Celtics vs. Lakers all-time
They have met in the Finals 12 times, with the Celtics leading 9-3.
Bill Russell was 7-0 vs. the Lakers.
All-time Lakers great Elgin Baylor was 0-7 in Finals series vs. Boston. His running mate, Jerry West, was 0-6 vs. the Celtics (and nevertheless was selected as The Logo).
Between 1948 and 1954, the Lakers won five titles playing in Minneapolis, a long way from Los Angeles. They moved to LA in 1960 but lost seven straight Finals before finally winning a championship there.
When they won in 1972, it was ironically after hiring former Celtics Bill Sharman as head coach and KC Jones as assistant coach.
Individual winners
These six Celtics have won more rings than any other NBA players all-time.
- Bill Russell 11-1
- Sam Jones 10-1
- John Havlicek 8-0
- Tom Sanders 8-0
- KC Jones 8-0
- Tom Heinsohn 8-1
Safe to say the 1956 draft day trade in which Boston acquired Russell from the St. Louis Hawks was one of the most…
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