Since the NBA’s first season in 1946, the Celtics have reached the NBA finals 20 times, and have more titles than any other franchise: 17 (85% winning percentage). The LA Lakers, on the other hand, have been to the NBA finals a whopping 30 times, but have managed only 15 titles, a mere 50% winning percentage. LA’s longest drought of not reaching the finals is seven years (1973-1980), compared to the Celtic’s twenty years from 1987 to 2008. Thus, the Lakers have been consistently good since their first NBA championship in 1949; they won their division at least twice in every decade, whereas the Celtics have created a pattern of dominant eras, followed by lackluster ones. They won eight NBA championships back-to-back from 1959to 1966, but went to the finals only twice in the 70s. Then, they played for the NBA championship in four consecutive years from 1984 to 1987, followed by a dry spell of twenty years, which ended only last year in 2008. The Celtics are better head-to-head in the finals, winning 9 of the 11 times.
Conference titles:
Celtics: 20
Lakers: 30
NBA titles
Celtics: 17
Lakers: 15
Win % in finals
Celtics: 85%
Lakers: 50%
Longest time without reaching finals
Celtics: 20 years (1987-2008)
Lakers: 7 years (1973-1980)
Most titles back-to-back
Celtics: 8 (1959-1966)
Lakers: 3 (1952-1954, 2000-2002)
Head-to-head wins in finals
Celtics: 9
Lakers: 2
No comments:
Post a Comment