76ers–Celtics rivalry 1 point, 91-90, coming back from a 7-point deficit with a few minutes left to win on a Larry Bird banker from the left side with barely a minute left. The Celtics then defeated the Houston Rockets on their way to their first title in 5 years. For the 1981-1982 season, the Celtics again had the best record in the NBA at 63-19, followed by Philadelphia at 58-24, with one of the Sixers' key victories in the regular season being a win in Boston to snap the Celtics' 18-game winning streak. In the 1982 Eastern Finals, Boston attempted to come
Boston Celtics the National Basketball League and the Basketball Association of America merger. However, the Blackhawks could not field a truly competitive team until they moved to St. Louis as the St. Louis Hawks after a four-year stopover at Milwaukee. The two teams have faced each other eleven times in the NBA Playoffs, four times in the NBA Finals, with the Celtics winning ten of twelve series against the Hawks, including three out of four NBA Finals. While the Hawks have only defeated the Celtics twice out of eleven series in the NBA Playoffs, they still often managed to make their series