Since 1948
Lakers vs. Celtics
The defining rivalry of professional basketball
The Lakers-Celtics rivalry is basketball's equivalent of Shakespeare: epic, dramatic, and seemingly endless. Spanning from the Minneapolis Lakers era of the late 1940s through Magic and Bird's transcendent 1980s battles to the Kobe-Pierce confrontations of the 2000s, this rivalry has produced more iconic moments than any other in NBA history. The two franchises have combined for 34 championships and met in the NBA Finals twelve times.