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The 10-time champion Boston Celtics entered the 1968-69 season with very few expectations. They were an aging group, with five of their nine core players age 30 or older. Their rivals were younger and getting better. The Los Angeles Lakers had traded for Wilt Chamberlain to team with Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, three of the greatest ever. No one was predicting the Celtics would get anywhere near the NBA Finals, much less win it.
But as it turned out, the 1969 NBA Finals were the most astounding, incredible, thrilling, unexpected, stunning, and for Celtics fans, glorious Finals perhaps in the entire history of the league.
Boston’s player-coach Bill Russell blocks a shot by Keith Erickson as the Celtics defeat the Lakers, 108-106, in Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals.
The regular season
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The NBA had 14 teams now, and the Celtics finished the regular season at 48-34 for fourth place in the East. Sam Jones announced before opening night that this would be his last season. (Spoiler: He did not go out quietly.) Though no one knew it yet, player-coach Bill Russell would also be saying goodbye.
Before the season, Boston acquired two former New York Knicks who found minutes in the rotation. Jim Barnes, the 1964 no. 1 overall pick, had the role of backup center to Russell. Emmette Bryant, a reserve guard, was more of a factor. The Knicks gave him to Phoenix in an expansion draft, then Phoenix gave him to the Celtics for just a second-round pick. But with Boston, Bryant appeared in 80 games and surprisingly became the starting point guard in the postseason.
The Celtics regular season wasn’t special, mostly short winning streaks that were offset by short losing streaks. However, when the playoffs began, they were ready to pull it all together.
Eastern playoffs
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The Sixers weren’t the same team without Chamberlain. Philly finished the regular season seven games ahead of Boston, but postseason was a different story. The Celtics won the first three games (two of them in Philadelphia) and closed out a gentleman’s sweep with a 93-90 Game 5 win, also on the road.
After dominating the season series, 6-1, Willis…
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Publish date : 2026-08-17 10:00:00
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