IT takes 16 victories to capture the Larry O’Brien trophy that goes to the National Basketball Association (NBA) titlist.
For the 2008 Boston Celtics, however, it did not matter how many games were needed to be played so long as the travelogue led to an NBA championship.
And indeed, the Celtics, who were bannered by the Big Three of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and others like Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, Glen (Big Baby) Davis and Tony Allen, made a league-record 26 playoff appearances that year before taking down their arch rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, via a 4-2 count in the NBA Finals.
The Green was pushed to the maximum seven games by both Atlanta and Cleveland in the first two rounds of the playoffs, surrendering all three road contests each time against the Hawks and Cavaliers, before registering a 4-2 verdict (including 2-1 away from home) over the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern finals.
While the Celtics coach Glenn (Doc) Rivers’ charges won 16 postseason games overall, they also were on the short end of the stick on 10 occasions – the most by any champion in NBA annals – for one of the lowest playoff winning percentages by an NBA titlist in league history at .615.
During the early sixties, only six of the eight or nine clubs overall qualified for the playoffs and the postseason only consisted of three rounds with the division winners from the east and West drawing first-round byes.
In 1962, with nine member teams in the league, Boston snared the NBA diadem with a paltry 8-6 record, defeating the Philadelphia (now Golden State) Warriors in the Eastern finals and the LA Lakers in the NBA Finals via the maximum seven games each time for a .571 winning clip.
It was the lowest playoff winning percentage by an NBA champion ever.
In 1960 and 1963, the Celts also annexed the NBA crown with identical 8-5 records (.615).
Six of the eight member clubs earned a playoff ticket during the 1959-60 season and Boston knocked off the St. Louis (now Atlanta) Hawks, 4-3, during the NBA Finals.
In 1962-63, six of the nine teams secured a playoff berth and the Hub City squad conquered the LA Lakers in seven games to capture the NBA crown that year.
It is worthy to note that those three aforementioned teams were part of the renowned Celtics dynasty that ruled the NBA for eight consecutive years from 1959 to 1966.
Meanwhile, the 1988 LA Lakers of Earvin (Magic) Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy went 15-9 (.625) and needed 24 of a possible 26 playoff games (the first round was a best-of-five series at the time) to successfully retain their NBA title.
It marked the first time in 19 years that there was a repeat champion (following the 1968 and 1969 Celtics). Those Lakers also were the first and only NBA team ever to win three consecutive seven-game duels in a single playoff campaign en route to the championship.
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