8 Years Ago Today - The Boston Celtics won their 17th NBA Championship, defeating the Lakers in a lopsided fashion with a score of 131-92

(Artwork by Sean Curate)

The Boston Celtics won their 17th NBA Championship, defeating the Lakers 4 games to 2. Boston's 131-92 win in Game 6 is the most lopsided closeout win in NBA Finals history. Paul Pierce is named Finals MVP.

The 39-point margin of victory was the largest ever in an NBA championship-clinching game, breaking the old record of 33, also set by the Celtics over the Lakers in Game Five of the The 1965 NBA Finals, 129–96. This lead was close to the Finals point-spread record set in Game 3 in 1998 where a Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls team beat the Utah Jazz by 42 points, 96–54.The Celtics also improved their overall record against the Lakers to 9–2 in Finals meetings, beating them in the Finals for the first time since 1984.

This was the Celtics' 17th championship, their first since 1986, extending their record for most NBA championships won by a single team. All this capped off the Celtics' best regular season (66–16) since their previous championship season in which they went 67–15. It was also a sense of relief, as the Celtics set an NBA record for most playoff games ever needed to win a championship, with 26, surpassing the previous record of 24 by the Lakers in 1988.

Watch the final game below where the Celtics won the 2008 NBA Finals

ARTICLE FROM POWCAST.NET SPORTS HUB