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The NBA team Boston Celtics are based out of Boston, Massachusetts and play in the Eastern Conference of the Atlantic Division of the National Basketball Association. The team was founded in 1946. Their current owner is Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The home games of the Celtics are played at TD Garden, which is also the home of NHL’s Boston Bruins and NLL’s Boston Blazers. The 17 NBA Championships won by the Celtics is more than any other NBA franchise. The Los Angeles Lakers, their rival from the Western Conference, has won 16 titles. The Celtics from 1957-1969 dominated the NBA. In 13 years, Boston won 11 championships and from 1959-1966 won eight consecutive titles, which is the longest championship consecutive streak for any professional sports team in North America.
During the latter part of the 1950s and middle 1980s, Boston dominated the NBA. They were helped by several Hall of Famers including Larry Bird, John Havlicek, Bob Cousy and Bill Russell along with Red Auerbach, their legendary coach. They combined for a record of 795-397 which led the Celtics to winning 16 Championships. The Celtics during that span competed against the Lakers in the Finals 12 times during the middle 1950s and 1980s. The Celtics won nine times and the Lakers won three times.
Before the “Big 3” retired (Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Larry Bird) and thanks to Auerbach’s creative maneuvering, Boston was able to draft Len Bias as second overall pick. However the day after Bias was drafted, he died and the Celtics fell into decline. The team later suffered another tragedy. Reggie Lewis, a star player for the Celtics, died while still in his prime, from a heart attack.
In 2007-2008, the Celtics returned to prominence when Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett joined Paul Pierce. Boston’s new “Big Three” helped to lead the Celtics to their 17th championship. Four different Celtic players (Larry Bird, Dave Cowens, Bill Russell and Bob Cousy) have won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award and hold the NBA record with 10 MVP awards total.