1985 NBA Finals
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| Dates | May 27 – June 9 | ||||||||||||
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| MVP |
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Los Angeles Lakers) |
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| Television | CBS (U.S.) | ||||||||||||
| Announcers | and Tom Heinsohn | ||||||||||||
| Radio network |
WRKO (BOS) KLAC (LAL) |
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| Announcers |
Johnny Most and Glenn Ordway (BOS) Chick Hearn and Keith Erickson (LAL) |
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| Referees | |||||||||||||
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| Hall of Famers |
Celtics: Larry Bird (1998) Dennis Johnson (2010) Kevin McHale (1999) Robert Parish (2003) Lakers: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1995) Magic Johnson (2002) Bob McAdoo (2000) Jamaal Wilkes (2012) James Worthy (2003) Coaches: K.C. Jones (1989, player) Pat Riley (2008) Officials: Darell Garretson (2016) Earl Strom (1995) |
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| Eastern Finals | Celtics defeat 76ers, 4-1 | ||||||||||||
| Western Finals | Lakers defeat Nuggets, 4-1 | ||||||||||||
| Game 1: | Darell Garretson and Jess Kersey |
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| Game 2: | Jake O'Donnell and John Vanak |
| Game 3: | Hugh Evans and Earl Strom |
| Game 4: | Ed T. Rush and John Vanak |
| Game 5: | Darell Garretson and Jake O'Donnell |
| Game 6: | Hugh Evans and Earl Strom |
The 1985 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the 1984–85 NBA season.
The Boston Celtics were looking to repeat as NBA Champions for the first time since the 1968–69 season. The Celtics had homecourt advantage for the second year in a row as they finished the regular season with a 63-19 record while the Los Angeles Lakers compiled a 62-20 record. The Lakers looked to bounce back from the previous year's painful loss to the Celtics in the championship series, and were still seeking to beat Boston for the first time ever in NBA Finals history. Also for the first time, the Finals went to a 2-3-2 format with Games 1 and 2 in Boston while the next three games were in Los Angeles. The final two games of the series would be played in Boston, if required. This change of format came after David Stern had a conversation with Celtics legend Red Auerbach in 1984, who didn't like the frequent traveling between games. The 2-3-2 format would be used until the 2013 NBA Finals, after which the 2-2-1-1-1 format returned the following year.
The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Celtics four games to two to defeat the Celtics for the first time in Laker history in the NBA Finals.
It would mark the last time the NBA World Championship Series branding would be in use as the NBA Finals branding would replace it the next season.
The video documentary Return to Glory recaps the 1985 NBA Playoff action. It would be the last documentary until 1989 narrated by .
After losing to the Celtics in the previous year's finals, the Lakers entered the 1984–85 NBA season with a mission. Once again using the effective Showtime offense, they ran away with the Western Conference-leading 62 wins. The team as a whole underwent a slight evolution, as James Worthy supplanted Jamaal Wilkes as the starting small forward, while Byron Scott began to earn more minutes as the backup to both Magic Johnson and Michael Cooper.
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