2008 NBA Finals
The 2008 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2007–08 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. A best-of-seven playoff series that was played from June 5 to 17, 2008, the series was contested between the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics and the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers. It was the eleventh Finals meeting in the history of the Celtics–Lakers rivalry.
Team
June 5–17
Paul Pierce
(Boston Celtics)
Celtics:
Ray Allen (2018)
Kevin Garnett (2020)
Paul Pierce (2021)
Lakers:
Kobe Bryant (2020)
Pau Gasol (2023)
Coaches:
Phil Jackson (2007)
Officials:
Dick Bavetta (2015)
Led by the "Big 3" of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen, and holding home court advantage, the Celtics defeated the Lakers, led by Pau Gasol and MVP Kobe Bryant, in six games. It was their first title in twenty-two years and their 17th title overall. Pierce was named the Finals MVP.
Broadcasting[edit]
The Finals, produced by ESPN, were aired on ABC in the United States for the sixth consecutive year. This was also Michele Tafoya's last Finals appearance as a sideline reporter due to her resignation shortly before the 2008–09 season.[17] She was later succeeded by Doris Burke (2009–19), Rachel Nichols (2020), Malika Andrews (2021), and Lisa Salters (2022–present).
Local TV broadcasts of the competing franchises were Los Angeles' KABC-TV and Boston's WCVB-TV.
Aftermath[edit]
In the 2008–09 season, the Celtics got off to an impressive start with a 27–2 record, marking the best start through 29 games in NBA history. However, their momentum was halted when they faced the Lakers on Christmas Day in a fateful finals rematch, bringing an end to their franchise-high 19-game winning streak. Shortly after the 2009 All-Star Game, Kevin Garnett suffered a devastating right knee injury which sidelined him for the remainder of the season. Despite finishing the season with 62 wins, the absence of Garnett had a noticeable impact on the team's performance as they were eliminated in seven games by the Dwight Howard-led Orlando Magic in the2009 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The Lakers experienced a resurgence in the subsequent season, securing victories in 65 games, and then proceeded to clinching the 2009 NBA championship title in five games after overcoming the Dwight Howard-led Orlando Magic. Even though another mid-season injury to Andrew Bynum threatened their title drive, he did come back late in the season. The 2008-09 Los Angeles Lakers became the first team since the 1988–89 Detroit Pistons to win the NBA Finals after losing it in the previous year.
Both teams would eventually meet again in 2010 where the Lakers would exact their revenge by finding themselves pitted against the Boston Celtics for the first time in two years. The Lakers avenged their 2008 NBA Finals loss and repeated as NBA Champions after besting Boston in seven games, winning their fifth NBA Championship title in the last ten seasons. The Lakers would not return to the NBA Finals again until a decade later, led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who won the NBA championship in 2020. The Celtics would not return to make another appearance in the Finals again until 12 years later in 2022, where the Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum-led team would eventually succumb to the Stephen Curry-led Golden State Warriors in six games. Two years thereafter, the Celtics would reach the NBA Finals yet again in 2024, emerging victorious in a five-game series over the Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving-led Dallas Mavericks, garnering their first championship title in 16 years and 18th overall, effectively consolidating their position as the NBA franchise with the highest number of NBA championship titles.[18]