Game 1 The Lakers were coming off a four-game sweep of the
Seattle SuperSonics, while the Celtics were coming off a grueling seven-game win over the
Detroit Pistons.
Magic Johnson led a 126–113 victory with 29 points, 13 assists, eight rebounds and no turnovers.
James Worthy, on the receiving end of many of Johnson's passes, had 33 points and nine rebounds. The Lakers ran 35 fast breaks in the first two quarters and led by 15 at intermission.
Game 2 Prior to the game,
Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons and
Larry Bird held a joint press conference to quell the controversy of
Dennis Rodman and Thomas racial comments towards Bird after losing Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. After that game, Thomas told reporters that he agreed with teammate Dennis Rodman’s statement that Bird would be just another guy if he were black. Thomas said he meant the comment to be a joke. Thomas later stated how Bird accepting his apology essentially saved his career. The Celtics plan for Game 2 was to concentrate on stopping
Magic Johnson.
Danny Ainge, at 6'5", could not deal with the 6'9" Magic. In this game,
Michael Cooper emerged as a great 3 point shooter. He hit six 3 pointers, a playoff record.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar added 23 points on 10 of 14 shots, while Magic posted 20 assists and 22 points. It all added up to a 141–122 rout, Boston's sixth straight road loss in the playoffs.
Game 3 The Celtics recovered from their two knockout blows in Games 1 and 2 with a counterpunch of their own. A little-used backup center,
Greg Kite, provided the spark. Kite, entering the game late in the first quarter when
Robert Parish encountered foul trouble, played 20 minutes, and while he failed to score, he grabbed nine rebounds, blocked a
Magic Johnson layup, and did solid body work on
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The defensive minutes Kite gave Boston from the bench were just enough, as
Larry Bird scored 30 points and
Dennis Johnson hit 11 of 22 attempts from the field to finish with 26 points. The resurgent Celtics shot 17 of 21 from the floor in the second quarter.
Kevin McHale Celtics' forward bounced back in Boston with 21 points and 10 rebounds while letting the air out of
James Worthy's game, limiting the Lakers' forward to only 13 points and three rebounds. Magic led the Lakers with 32 points in the 109–103 loss.
Game 4 After their Game 3 win,
Larry Bird said, "This (Game 3) was the most important game of the series for us. If we lost, it might've been tough to get up for Game 4. Now it's going to be easy." In what would be one of, if not the greatest Finals game of all time The Celtics took it right to the Lakers, controlling the boards and taking a 55–47 lead into halftime. The Celtics had a balanced scoring attack with
Kevin McHale,
Robert Parish,
Danny Ainge, and
Dennis Johnson all scoring in double figures. In the 3rd quarter, Bird finally got hot by scoring 12 in the quarter and helping the Celtics lead by as many as 16 points. But Los Angeles fought back to cut the Celtics lead to 85–78 going into the 4th. In the 4th quarter the Lakers continued fighting back until they managed to tie the game at 95–95 on a
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar skyhook with 5:30 remaining. The Celtics responded on both ends of the court by going on an 8–0 run, helped by good defense which led to 2 fast-break lay-ups to take a 103–96 lead with 2 minutes left. Then the Lakers called time out. On the Celtics' next possession,
Robert Parish lost the ball to
Michael Cooper. Cooper passed the ball ahead to
Magic Johnson, who started a break. Cooper spotted up in 3-point territory, while Magic drove, forcing Cooper's defender to help out. Magic then kicked the ball out to a now wide open Cooper who drilled the three to cut the lead to 103–100. On the Celtics next possession,
Larry Bird forced a pass to
Kevin McHale in the post, which instead sailed out of bounds, giving possession right back to the Lakers.
James Worthy then hit a tough fade-away over Kevin McHale and
Robert Parish in the lane to cut the deficit to one. On the very next possession, Bird missed a step-back jumper over the outstretched frame of
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the Lakers got the ball back with just under 45 seconds remaining. The Lakers called a timeout to set up a pick for
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The pass was there for an alley-oop dunk, and the Lakers took a 104–103 lead, their first lead since early in the 1st quarter. The Celtics called timeout with 29 seconds left in the game. Out of the timeout Bird threw the ball inbounds and was immediately face-guarded by
James Worthy. In fact, Worthy had a fist-full of Bird's jersey to make sure Bird would not score. With Worthy's defense, the Celtics could not get their best player the ball and instead went through the motions of their offense until
Danny Ainge got open. That forced Worthy to let go of Bird and help out on Ainge. Bird immediately got himself open by going to the 3-point line right in front of the Lakers' bench. Ainge found Bird wide open and Bird hit the three point bomb with 12 seconds left, to put Boston up 106–104 and sent the Boston Garden crowd into a frenzy. On the next possession, Abdul-Jabbar was fouled and went to the line, where he made the first and missed the second. The officials ruled that McHale fumbled the ball out of bounds with seven seconds left. What followed was another play for the ages. Magic set a pick on Kevin McHale, which almost opened up a lay-up for Worthy, but
Dennis Johnson was able to switch over in time on help defend. However, that left McHale scrambling to guard Magic who just got open and received the inbounds pass near the left sideline. Twenty feet from the basket, Magic had the advantage on the post-defender McHale, who was also playing through a bad ankle injury. Magic dribbled, hesitated to get McHale off-balance, then drove into the paint. Magic then lofted a
hook shot, which just cleared the fingertips of both McHale and Parish, and swished through the net giving the Lakers a 107–106 lead with only 2 seconds left. The Celtics still had one last shot: Dennis inbounded the ball to Bird, who had broken to the corner. Larry, to his surprise, found himself wide open behind the 3-point line right in front of the Lakers' bench. Bird caught the inbounds pass from Johnson, turned, and put up a fall-away jumper as time expired. The shot missed as the Boston crowd let out a collective groan and the Lakers' bench danced off the court to celebrate the victory. The win gave the Lakers a commanding 3–1 series lead.
Game 5 The Celtics had to win Game 5 in the Garden, and would control most of the game.
Danny Ainge set the tone by nailing 5 of 6 from 3-point range to give Boston early control, including a halfcourt heave at the buzzer before halftime. Magic countered for Los Angeles with 29 points, 12 assists, eight rebounds, and four steals, but he received little help. Before the game Bird had told his teammates, "If they want to celebrate, let's not let them do it on the parquet." The Celtics had incentive enough. They got their second win, 123–108, and the series jetted back across the continent. This was the last NBA Finals game played at Boston Garden. When the Celtics returned to the Finals in
2008, they had moved to
TD Garden, which opened in 1995.
Game 6 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar arrived for Game 6 with a shaved head and a determination to close out this series. For a while, though, it appeared like the Celtics would steal it.
Magic Johnson had only four points at the half and
Dennis Johnson poured in 18 for the Celtics on his way to a game-high 33 as Boston led 56–51 at intermission. The Lakers scored the first two baskets of the second half to cut it to 56–55. On the Celtics' ensuing possession,
James Worthy deflected a pass and gave chase. Worthy went to the floor, batted the ball inbounds to a breaking
Magic Johnson, and Magic slammed home a breakaway dunk. This gave the Lakers their first lead of the game 57–56, since early in the first quarter, and they never trailed again. The Lakers outscored the Celtics 30–12 in the third quarter for an 18-point turnaround, mostly on fast breaks. The score at the end of three quarters was 81–68, Lakers. The Celtics only scored 12 points in the third quarter, one more than the record for the lowest scoring quarter in playoff history. Worthy would finish with 22 points, and
Mychal Thompson had 16 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, but the play of the Lakers' two superstars, Magic and Kareem, would be the dagger that finished off the Celtics. Magic recovered from his cold first half to post 16 points, 19 assists, and eight rebounds, and Kareem would pump in a team-high 32 points. "Magic is a great, great basketball player," Bird stated flatly, settling the issue for the moment. "The best I've ever seen." Indeed, Magic would gain the
NBA Finals MVP award and his fourth championship ring. For the
Lakers, this would be their last
NBA Finals series triumph over the
Celtics until
2010. This would also be the last time the NBA championship was ever clinched in an afternoon game. Following the
1991 NBA Finals all Finals games would be played in primetime. ==Team rosters==