1987 NBA Finals
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| Dates | June 2–14 | ||||||||||||
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| MVP |
Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers) |
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| Television | CBS (U.S.) | ||||||||||||
| Announcers | and Tom Heinsohn | ||||||||||||
| Referees | |||||||||||||
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| Hall of Famers |
Celtics: Larry Bird (1998) Dennis Johnson (2010) Kevin McHale (1999) Robert Parish (2003) Bill Walton (1993) Lakers: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1995) Magic Johnson (2002) 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 Pistons, 4–3 | ||||||||||||
| Western Finals | Lakers defeat SuperSonics, 4–0 | ||||||||||||
| Game 1: | Jake O'Donnell and Hugh Evans |
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| Game 2: | Ed T. Rush and Jack Madden |
| Game 3: | Darell Garretson and Joe Crawford |
| Game 4: | Earl Strom and Hugh Evans |
| Game 5: | Jake O'Donnell and Ed T. Rush |
| Game 6: | Darell Garretson and Joe Crawford |
The 1987 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1986-87 NBA season. The match took place between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. The Lakers won 4–2, beating the Celtics in the Finals. The key moment of the series was Magic Johnson's junior sky hook in Game 4. This was the tenth time that the Celtics and Lakers met in the NBA Finals (more than any other Finals matchup) and would also mark the Celtics' last appearance until the two teams met again in 2008.
This was the first NBA Championship Series conducted entirely in the month of June. The last time there were no NBA Championship Series games in the month of May was in the 1970-1971 season, when the finals (a four-game sweep that year) ended on April 30. It is also the first NBA Finals series to be conducted on a Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday rotation, which was in use until 1990 and revived since the 2004 NBA Finals; in between the NBA Finals were conducted on a Sunday-Wednesday-Friday rotation.
The Celtics finished the regular season with a 59–23 record, best in the Eastern Conference. Despite retaining the core of the team that won the championship a year earlier, Boston endured numerous injuries to its roster. Their bench, an asset of the previous year's team, was decimated by injuries to Scott Wedman and Bill Walton. With limited options, head coach K. C. Jones was forced to give his starting five of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge extended minutes, but the lengthy playing time took its toll on the players' health, and by the start of the playoffs, the Celtics were a roster full of walking wounded.
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