1986 NBA Finals
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| Dates | May 26–June 8 | ||||||||||||
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| MVP |
Larry Bird (Boston Celtics) |
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| Television | CBS (U.S.) | ||||||||||||
| Announcers | and Tom Heinsohn | ||||||||||||
| Radio network | WRKO (BOS) | ||||||||||||
| Announcers |
Johnny Most and Glenn Ordway (BOS) Gene Peterson and Jim Foley (HOU) |
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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) Bill Walton (1993) Rockets: Akeem Olajuwon (2008) Ralph Sampson (2012) Coaches: K.C. Jones (1989, player) Officials: Darell Garretson (2016) Earl Strom (1995) |
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| Eastern Finals | Celtics defeat Bucks, 4–0 | ||||||||||||
| Western Finals | Rockets defeat Lakers, 4–1 | ||||||||||||
| Game 1: | Jack Madden and Ed T. Rush |
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| Game 2: | Jess Kersey and Hugh Evans |
| Game 3: | Joe Crawford and Jake O'Donnell |
| Game 4: | Darell Garretson and Earl Strom |
| Game 5: | Hugh Evans and Jack Madden |
| Game 6: | Jake O'Donnell and Darell Garretson |
The 1986 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1985–86 NBA season. It pitted the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics against the Western Conference champion Houston Rockets, in a rematch of the 1981 Finals (only Allen Leavell and Robert Reid remained from the Rockets' 1981 team). The Celtics defeated the Rockets four games to two to win their 16th NBA championship. The championship would be the Celtics' last until the 2008 NBA Finals. Larry Bird was named the Finals MVP.
On another note, this series marked the first time the "NBA Finals" branding was officially used, as they dropped the "NBA World Championship Series" branding which had been in use since the beginning of the league, though it had been unofficially called the "NBA Finals" for years.
Until the 2011 series, this was the last time the NBA Finals had started before June. Since game three, all NBA Finals games have been played in June. Starting with the following year, the NBA Finals would be held exclusively in the month of June. It was also the last NBA Finals series to schedule a game on a Monday until 1999 and also the last NBA Finals game to be played on Memorial Day.
CBS Sports used and Tom Heinsohn as the play-by-play man and color commentator respectively. Meanwhile, Brent Musburger was the host and Pat O'Brien (the Rockets' sideline) and Lesley Visser (the Celtics' sideline) were the sideline reporters.
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