5. Finally (1985)
There may have never been any greater demons that the Lakers needed to exercise than their ones against the Celtics. After being dominated by Bill Russell and Boston for the entirety of the 1960s—and suffering their fare share of heartbreak along the way—here came Magic Johnson and the Showtime Lakers to take on Larry Bird’s Celtics teams.
Bird and company defeated the Lakers in an epic seven-game series in the 1984 NBA Finals, but the two teams met again in the Finals the next year and the tides had finally turned in the rivalry. Magic was joined by a near-the-end-of-his-career Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worth, Byron Scott (back when he was still doing positive things for the franchise), and plenty of other legends of the franchise.
What ensued was one of the best series in the history of the Finals and a series that really kickstarted the rivalry again in the 1980s. In the end, it was the Lakers that achieved the ultimate glory in the NBA as they toppled the Cs in six games to capture another NBA Championship and, most importantly, their first victory over the Celtics in the Finals.
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