1986–87 Boston Celtics season
The 1986–87 Boston Celtics season was the 41st season of the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Celtics entered the season as the defending NBA Champions, having defeated the Houston Rockets in the 1986 NBA Finals in six games, winning their sixteenth NBA championship.
| 1986–87 Boston Celtics season | |
|---|---|
Conference champions | |
Division champions | |
| Head coach | K. C. Jones |
| Owners | Don Gaston Alan N. Cohen Paul Dupee |
| Arena | Boston Garden Hartford Civic Center |
| Results | |
| Record | 59–23 (.720) |
| Place | Division: 1st (Atlantic) Conference: 1st (Eastern) |
| Playoff finish | NBA Finals (lost to Lakers 2–4) |
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
| Local media | |
| Television | WLVI (Gil Santos, Bob Cousy) SportsChannel New England (Mike Gorman, Tom Heinsohn) |
| Radio | WRKO (Johnny Most, Glenn Ordway) |
In the playoffs, the Celtics swept the Chicago Bulls in the First Round in three games, defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in the Semi-finals in seven games, and the Detroit Pistons in the conference finals in seven games to reach the NBA Finals for the fifth time in the 1980s. In the Finals, the Celtics faced off against their long time rival, the Los Angeles Lakers, in their third and final matchup in the NBA Finals in the 1980s. The Celtics would lose in six games to the Lakers, and it marked the last time the Celtics made it to the NBA Finals until 2008. Remarkably, the 1987 NBA Finals was the first playoff series for the Celtics in the Bird era in which they did not have the home court advantage, as they had played 24 consecutive series with the home court advantage starting in 1980.