Today's Finals review comes from the 1985 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics in what was their ninth Finals matchup. Could the Lakers finally break through and beat their most persistent foil? Read ahead to find out.

Many people considered the Los Angeles Lakers/Boston Celtics rivalry the best the NBA had to offer. If it was, it was, as Brent Musburger once said, the most one-sided rivalry in all of sports. The Celtics had beaten the Lakers in all eight NBA Finals matchups. The 1984 Finals might have been the most painful for Lakers fans; L.A. blew games 2 and 4 on late-game mistakes and, instead of celebrating a possible sweep, the Lakers lost in seven games. Many people questioned the Lakers' mental and physical toughness after the series. Those questions wouldn't be answered unless the Lakers returned to the Finals in 1985 against the Celtics.

The Celtics rolled to a league-best 63-19 record during the 1984-85 season, and Larry Bird won his second striaght league MVP. His personal highlight came against the Hawks in January 1985 when he scored a career best 60 points. But cracks in the champions' veneer appeared during the season when Cedric Maxwell suffered a sever knee injury that required surgery. Maxwell's departure severly weakened an already thin bench, forcing coach K.C. Jones to play his regulars over 2,500 minutes apiece. Still, the Celtics hoped Maxwell would be ready come playoff time.

Meanwhile, the Lakers went 62-20 to claim the Western Conference's best record. All of their focus, however, was on returning to the Finals. The Lakers went 11-2 in the Western Conference playoffs, sweeping the Phoenix Suns 3-0, ousting the Portland Trail Blazers 4-1 and dominated the Denver Nuggets 4-1 to make the Finals for the fourth straight year. The Celtics' road to the Finals was not as smooth; they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 3-1 despite the Cavs scoring as many points as they did, then beat the Detroit Pistons 4 game to 2 before beating the Philadelphia 76ers 4-1 to advance back to the Finals. The Celtics sought to become the first repeat champion since 1969 and to continue being perfect against L.A.

Game 1 was dubbed "the Memorial Day Massacre", and for good reason; the Celtics completely destroyed the Lakers. Robert Parish held Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to 12 points and 3 rebounds, which made the Lakers captain apoligize to his team afterwards. Scott Wedman hit all 11 of his shots to set a Finals record for shooting, as he and Danny Ainge combined for 45 points. The Celtics set another record by scoring 79 first half points, and ended up winning 148-114 (the 148 points was another record). All signs pointed to another Celtics championship. The Lakers, however, weren't listening to the doubters, and they came out inspired for game 2. Abdul-Jabbar came out firing and had a marvelous performance with 30 points, 17 rebounds and 8 assists as he ran Parish ragged in the game. L.A. led by as many as 18 points during the first half, and while the Celtics made several attempts to come back, a late Michael Cooper jumper shut the door on the champs, as the Lakers won 109-102 to even the series. The Lakers even gave the Celtics a taste of their own medicine by getting physical, led by reserve Mitch Kupchak, who emerged from two knee injuries to give the Lakers needed toughness. The Celtics even complained about the roughhouse tatics after the game. The series now shifted to L.A., and for the first time since the 1950s, there would be three games played instead of two, which the Celtics (and some analysts) felt took away the homecourt advantage.

Game 3 mirrored the previous years' game 3 in the final score. In the beginning, though, the game was close, and the Celtics actually had a ten-point lead late in the 1st half before the Showtime Lakers came out flying with a 27-11 run to close the half in front. Early in the third quarter, Abdul-Jabbar added another record to his ledger when he passed Jerry West as the all-time leading playoff scorer, and the Lakers outscored the Celtics by nine to take a 15-point lead into the 4th. The rest of the game was garbage time as the Lakers routed the Celtics 136-111 for a 2-1 lead. It was becoming clear that the Celtics' lack of depth was affecting their chances of winning, but the champions weren't done yet, as game 4 turned into a classic back-and-fourth battle. Led by Bird, Dennis Johnson and Kevin McHale, the Celtics battled to take to lead 99-96 late in the game, with Bird scoring 11 in the 4th quarter. The Lakers evetually tied the game up at 105 on a Magic basket, but the Celtics had the final shot in regulation. Bird gained possession of the ball, and drew the defense in, before passing to Dennis Johnson, who hit the game-winning jumper to even the series at 2. Now, it was a best-of-three series.

In game 5, Abdul-Jabbar not only had another big offensive game (36 points), but he had a great defensive game, as he drew the important defensive assignment on McHale. After a 13-point 1st quarter, McHale scored only 11 more the rest of the game. After the game was knotted at 44 late in the first half before L.A. closed with a 20-7 run to take a 13-point lead. The Lakers led 76-59 when K.C. Jones was ejected with two quick technicals; many people felt Jones did that to motivate his team the way his old coach, Red Auerbach, did during the 1960s. And it did inspire the Celtics, who narrowed the margin to four points in the 4th, but came no further as L.A. won 120-111. The Lakers now needed only one more win for a title, but no team had ever won a title against the Celtics at Boston Garden, and that's where the Lakers had to go to exorcize their demons.

Game 6 was played tight to the vest, as L.A. led only by two after one period despite Kareem scoring 11 points. Neither team had much of a lead during the first half as the game was tied at 55 after two. But L.A. had a 8-0 run during the third to take a 82-73 lead after 3 periods. The Celtics made a run early in the fourth, but with only seven players playing in this game, the worn-out champs had nothing left to give. Dennis Johnson and Ainge missed 25 of their 31 combined attempts, and when McHale fouled out, the Celtics lost their key offensive player after he scored 32 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. The Lakers got five baskets from Magic and Kareem (including a memorable sky-hook when the game was out of reach) to clinch a 111-100 victory. The Lakers had finally won an NBA title against the Celtics, and not only did the current team celebrate the win, but all the former Lakers who had suffered from the eight previous losses celebrated the most emotional victory in franchise history. Kareem won Finals MVP (the oldest player ever to win the award) and the NBA's most one-sided rivalry now drew more even.

1985 NBA Finals Leaders: Points per game
L.A. Lakers: Abdul-Jabbar, 25.7 PPG; Worthy, 23.7 PPG; E. Johnson, 18.3 PPG
Boston: McHale, 26.0 PPG; Bird, 23.8 PPG; Parish, 17.2 PPG

1985 NBA Finals leaders: Rebounds per game
L.A. Lakers: Abdul-Jabbar, 9.0 RPG; Kurt Rambis, 8.5 RPG; E. Johnson, 6.8 RPG
Boston: McHale, 10.7 RPG; Parish, 9.0 RPG; Bird, 8.8 RPG

1985 NBA Finals leaders: Assists per game
L.A. Lakers: E. Johnson, 14.0 APG; Abdul-Jabbar, 5.2 APG; Cooper, 3.7 APG
Boston: D. Johnson, 9.5 APG; Ainge, 7.0 APG; Bird, 5.0 APG