By 1962, it was clear that the Boston Celtics were on a different level. They had won the title in 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1961. They only lost in 1962 because Bill Russell, their star center, was injured.
In ‘62, the Celtics faced off against their iconic rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers and the series went to seven games.
Boston featured Russell, Bob Cousy, Sam and KC Jones, Tom Heinsohn, Frank Ramsey and Satch Sanders.
The Lakers boasted two all-time greats in Jerry West, aka the Logo, and Elgin Baylor. They also had Tom Hawkins and Hot Rod Hundley.
Boston had the better team obviously and won the championship again, but L.A. was really good.
However, the Lakers would never top Boston in the West era, losing to the Celtics in 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1969.
We would learn later that this absolutely gutted West and caused him great mental anguish. For all of his remarkable talent, he grew up with abuse and struggled with depression his entire life.
In the 1980’s, he finally built Lakers teams that could challenge the Celtics in the Larry Bird era, but the pain of the losses in the ‘60’s never left him. He never went back to Boston Garden after he retired.
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