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2008 NBA Finals
The 2008 NBA Finals was the NBA Finals, championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2007–08 NBA season, 2007–08 season and conclusion of 2008 NBA playoffs, the season's playoffs. A best-of-seven playoff series that was played from June 5–17, 2008, the series was contested between the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference champion 2007–08 Boston Celtics season, Boston Celtics and the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champion 2007–08 Los Angeles Lakers season, Los Angeles Lakers. It was the eleventh Finals meeting in the history of the Celtics–Lakers rivalry. Led by the "Big 3" of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen, and holding home court advantage, the Celtics defeated the Lakers in six games. It was their first title in twenty-two years and their 17th title overall. Pierce was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award, Finals MVP. The Celtics would not win another championship until 2024 NBA Finals, 2024. Backgr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2007–08 Los Angeles Lakers Season
The 2007–08 NBA season, 2007–08 Los Angeles Lakers season was the 60th season of the franchise, 59th in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and 48th in Los Angeles. During the offseason, the Lakers re-signed point guard Derek Fisher. The Lakers celebrated their 60th anniversary, thus the Laker jerseys wore the 60th anniversary patches on the leftmost part. They finished the regular season with 57 wins, finishing with the most wins in the tightest conference race in NBA history. The Lakers clinched the top seed in the playoffs for the 29th time in franchise history. This 15-game turnaround from the prior season has been attributed to the progress of the team's bench players and the mid-season trade for Pau Gasol. The Lakers sold out all 41 home games for the season. After 12 seasons in the NBA, Kobe Bryant was named the 2008 National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award, NBA Most Valuable Player for the first and only time in his career. The Lakers had the t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Best-of-seven Playoff
There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly known as ''on aggregate'', and the ''round-robin tournament''. Single elimination A single-elimination ("knockout") playoff pits the participants in one-game matches, with the loser being dropped from the competition. Single-elimination tournaments are often used in individual sports like tennis. In most tennis tournaments, the players are seeded against each other, and the winner of each match continues to the next round, all the way to the final. When a playoff of this type involves the top four teams, it is sometimes known as the Shaughnessy playoff system, after Frank Shaughnessy, who first developed it for the International League of minor league baseball. Variations of the Shaughnessy system also exist, such as in the promotion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Auerbach
Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach (September 20, 1917 – October 28, 2006) was an American professional basketball coach and executive. As a head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he led the Boston Celtics to an unprecedented championship run, winning eight consecutive NBA championships from 1959 to 1966. Before coaching the Celtics, Auerbach was head coach of the Washington Capitols, of the Basketball Association of America, and Tri-Cities Blackhawks (now the Atlanta Hawks) of the NBA. At retirement, Auerbach held multiple NBA coaching records, with 938 wins and 9 List of NBA championship head coaches, championships. After his retirement from coaching, he served as president and front-office executive of the Boston Celtics until his death. As general manager and team president of the Celtics, he won an additional seven NBA titles for a total of 16 in 29 years. This makes him the team official with the highest championship-winning rate in NBA history and one of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rick Pitino
Richard Andrew Pitino (; born September 18, 1952) is an American basketball coach who is the head men's basketball coach at St. John's University (New York City), St. John's University. He was also the head coach of Greece national basketball team, Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA Division I and in the NBA, including Boston University Terriers men's basketball, Boston University (1978–1983), Providence Friars men's basketball, Providence College (1985–1987), the New York Knicks (1987–1989), the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball, University of Kentucky (1989–1997), the Boston Celtics (1997–2001), the Louisville Cardinals men's basketball, University of Louisville (2001–2017), Panathinaikos B.C., Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League and EuroLeague (2018–2020), and Iona Gaels men's basketball, Iona University (2020–2023). Pitino led Kentucky to an NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA championship in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1996–97 NBA Season
The 1996–97 NBA season was the 51st season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league used this season to celebrate its 50th anniversary, which included the unveiling of the league's list of its 50 greatest players. This particular season featured what has since been acknowledged as one of the most talented rookie-classes, featuring the debuts of Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Jermaine O'Neal, Ben Wallace and Stephon Marbury. The season ended with the Chicago Bulls defeating the Utah Jazz 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals to win the franchise's 5th championship. 1996 NBA lockout The 1996 NBA lockout was the second lockout of four in the history of the NBA. It took place on July 10, 1996. The lockout was imposed after the league and the players union could not reach an agreement involving $50 million in profit sharing from television revenue. The league requested 50 percent of the profits be applied toward player salaries while the union pushe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reggie Lewis
Reginald C. Lewis (November 21, 1965 – July 27, 1993) was an American professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics from 1987 to 1993. At the age of 27, Lewis died while still a member of the Celtics, and his number was posthumously retired by the team. Early life Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Lewis attended high school at Dunbar High School, where he played basketball alongside future NBA players Muggsy Bogues, Reggie Williams and David Wingate. The 1981–82 Dunbar Poets finished the season at 29–0 during Lewis' junior season and finished 31–0 during his senior season, and were ranked first in the nation by ''USA Today''. College career Lewis attended Northeastern University in Boston. Over his four years at Northeastern, Lewis scored 2,708 points, still the all-time record at the university. His Northeastern teams won the ECAC North all four seasons and played in the NCAA men's basketball tournament every year. The 1983– ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Parish
Robert Lee Parish (born August 30, 1953) is an American former professional basketball player. A 7'1" Center (basketball), center, nicknamed "the Chief", Parish played for four teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1976 to 1997. During his 14-year tenure with the Boston Celtics, Parish teamed with Hall-of-Fame forwards Larry Bird and Kevin McHale (basketball), Kevin McHale to form one of the greatest front lines in NBA history. During his college career at Centenary College of Louisiana, Centenary College, Parish racked up impressive enough numbers to be drafted three times—twice by teams from the American Basketball Association, ABA, and once in 1976 by the Golden State Warriors of the NBA. Parish played four seasons for the Warriors. In 1980, he was traded to the Boston Celtics along with a draft pick that the Celtics would use to select forward Kevin McHale. Parish and McHale joined star forward Larry Bird on the Celtics. Known as the Big Three, the trio w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kevin McHale (basketball)
Kevin Edward McHale (born December 19, 1957) is an American former professional basketball player, coach and analyst who played his entire professional career for the Boston Celtics. He earned the nickname "the Torture Chamber" for his exceptional footwork and post skills that consistently overwhelmed opponents. He is a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and one of the greatest Power forward (basketball), power forwards of all time. After a high school career in which he was named Minnesota Mr. Basketball, he attended the University of Minnesota, where he was named to two first-team All Conference teams and set many team records that still stand today. He was selected third overall in the 1980 NBA draft by the Celtics, and spent his first six seasons as a valuable bench player, backing up forwards Cedric Maxwell and Larry Bird, being twice named the NBA's NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award, Sixth Man of the Year, awarded each season to the league's best bench player. After Maxwell wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larry Bird
Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Hick from French Lick" and "Larry Legend" Bird is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He is the only person in NBA history to be named NBA Rookie of the Year Award, Rookie of the Year, NBA Most Valuable Player Award, Most Valuable Player, Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award, Finals MVP, 1982 NBA All-Star Game, All-Star MVP, NBA Coach of the Year Award, Coach of the Year, and NBA Executive of the Year Award, Executive of the Year. Growing up in French Lick, Indiana, Bird was a local basketball star. Highly college recruiting, recruited, he initially signed to play college basketball for coach Bob Knight of the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball, Indiana Hoosiers. However, Bird dropped out after one month and returned to French Lick and attended a local colle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1987 NBA Finals
The 1987 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 1986–87 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeated the defending NBA champion and Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics 4 games to 2. 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). It would be the Celtics' last Finals appearance until the two teams met in 2008. This was the first NBA Championship Series conducted entirely in June. The last time there were no NBA Championship Series games in 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 N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2024 NBA Finals
The 2024 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 2023–24 NBA season, 2023–24 season and conclusion to 2024 NBA playoffs, the season's playoffs. In the best-of-seven playoffs series, the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference champion 2023–24 Boston Celtics season, Boston Celtics defeated the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champion 2023–24 Dallas Mavericks season, Dallas Mavericks four games to one, winning their first championship since 2008 NBA Finals, 2008 and 18th overall, giving the Celtics the most NBA championships of any franchise. The Celtics' Jaylen Brown was voted the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player award, NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (FMVP), after averaging 20.8 points, 5.4 rebound (basketball), rebounds, and 5.0 assist (basketball), assists per game. The series started on June 6 and concluded on June 17. For only the second time in NBA history (the first being 1975–1980) six different team ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award
The Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (formerly known as the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player) is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1969 NBA Finals. The award is decided by a panel of eleven media members, who cast votes after the conclusion of the NBA Finals, Finals. The person with the highest number of votes wins the award. The award was originally a black trophy with a gold basketball-shaped sphere at the top, similar to the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, Larry O'Brien Trophy, until a new trophy was introduced in 2005 NBA Finals, 2005. Since its inception, the award has been given 55 times to 34 players. Michael Jordan is a record six-time award winner. LeBron James has won the award four times in his career, and Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, and Tim Duncan won three times each. Jordan and O'Neal are the only players to win the award in three consecutive seasons (Jordan accomplished the feat on two occasions). Johnson is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
