The 1987 NBA Finals was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)’s 1986–87 season….and the culmination of the season’s playoffs…..as the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Eastern Conference and defending NBA champion Boston Celtics 4 games to 2.
The key moment of the series was Magic Johnson’s junior sky hook in Game 4…..in an NBA final that was the 10th time that the Celtics and Lakers met in the NBA Finals….which is still more than any other Finals match-up…..and it would be the Celtics’ last Finals appearance until the two teams met again in the 2008 finals.
This was the first NBA Championship Series conducted entirely in June…..as the last time there were no NBA Championship Series games in May was in the 1970-1971 season….when the finals 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…when in between the NBA Finals were conducted on a Sunday-Wednesday-Friday rotation.
Game 3 of the 1987 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics was played on June 7th at Boston Garden in front of 14,890 rabid Celtic fans….as the Celtics led by Larry Bird’s 30 points and 12 rebounds would result in a 109 – 103 Celts victory….in a game that Lakers’ PG Magic Johnson led his team with a near triple double….when he scored 32 point 11 rebounds and 9 assists.
