How Many NBA Championships Did the Celtics Win?
Contents
The Boston Celtics have won the most NBA championships with 17 wins.
The Early Years
The Boston Celtics are one of the most successful NBA teams of all time. They have won a total of 17 NBA championships, which is more than any other team in the league. The Celtics were founded in 1946 and they have been to the NBA Finals a total of 21 times.
The 1950s
The 1950s were a tough decade for the Celtics. After winning the NBA Championship in 1957, the team struggled to find consistent success and only made it back to the Finals once, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1959. The following years brought even more disappointment, as the team failed to make it past the Eastern Conference Finals.
The 1960s
The 1960s were a decade of domination for the Boston Celtics, as they won eight titles in a span of 10 years. Led by head coach Red Auerbach and featuring a core group of Bill Russell, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, and John Havlicek, the Celtics were nearly unstoppable. In fact, their winning percentage (.742) during the 1960s is the best in NBA history for any team in any decade.
The Dynasty
The Boston Celtics are one of, if not the most, successful NBA team in history. Between 1957 and 1969, the Celtics won 11 championships in 13 years. In the 1980s, they won 3 more championships. For a total of 17 championships, the Celtics have won more championships than any other NBA team.
The 1970s
The 1970s were a decade of dominance for the Boston Celtics, who won the NBA Championship six times. Led by Hall of Famers such as John Havlicek, Dave Cowens, and Paul Silas, the Celtics were the class of the league throughout the decade. In addition to their six NBA titles, the Celtics also won five Eastern Conference Championships during the 1970s.
The 1980s
The 1980s were a decade of domination for the Boston Celtics. Led by Larry Bird, the Celtics won three NBA championships in a row from 1981 to 1983. They then won another title in 1986. In total, the Celtics won four championships in the 1980s.
The Modern Era
The Boston Celtics have the most NBA championships of any team with seventeen. Of those, eleven were won in the modern era. The modern era of the NBA began in 1946 with the formation of the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The BAA merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1949 to form the NBA.
The 1990s
In the 1990s, The Celtics won NBA Championships in 1990, 1991, and 1992.
The 2000s
The Boston Celtics won an NBA-record 17 championships in the modern era, which began in 1946. The team won eight championships in a row from 1959 to 1966, and then again in 1968 and 1969. The Celtics won two more titles in the 1970s, before captureding three more in the 1980s. The team’s most recent championship came in 2008.
The 2010s
The 2010s were a decade of ups and downs for the Celtics. After winning the NBA Championship in 2008, the team struggled to find its footing in the years that followed. In 2010, the Celtics lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Los Angeles Lakers. The next year, they were swept in the second round by the Miami Heat.
It wasn’t until 2012 that the Celtics made it back to the NBA Finals, where they faced off against the LeBron James-led Heat. The series went to seven games, but ultimately James and company proved too much for Boston, winning their second straight championship.
The Celtics regrouped and won another Eastern Conference title in 2018, but once again fell to James and the Cavs in seven games. The following season, Kyrie Irving joined forces with newcomer Kemba Walker to lead Boston back to the Eastern Conference Finals. But despite their best efforts, the Celtics came up short against a superior Toronto Raptors team.
