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The1981 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of theNational Basketball Association (NBA)'s1980–81 season, and the culmination of theseason's playoffs. It pitted the 62–20Eastern Conference championBoston Celtics against the 40–42Western Conference championHouston Rockets. The Celtics defeated the Rockets in six games for their fourteenth NBA championship.

This series has the distinction of featuring for the third time in NBA history, and last to date, a team with a losing record in the Finals. They were the first team since theMinneapolis Lakers in1959 to reach the championship round despite having more regular season losses than wins. This, along with1986 (which was also played by the Celtics and the Rockets), was one of the only two NBA Finals of the 1980s not to feature the Lakers.

Prior to the season, the NBA moved the Rockets andSan Antonio Spurs from the Central Division of the Eastern Conference to the Midwest Division of the Western Conference. The Rockets and Spurs traded places with theChicago Bulls andMilwaukee Bucks. The Midwest Division also took in the expansionDallas Mavericks.

The Rockets that season were led byMoses Malone, who practically carried the Rockets to the NBA Finals. Meanwhile,Calvin Murphy, the shortest player in the league at the time, set two NBA records, sinking 78 consecutive free throws to breakRick Barry's mark of 60 set in1976 and achieving a free-throw percentage of .958, breaking Rick Barry's record set with the Rockets in1979. Other key contributors of the 1980–81 team wereRudy Tomjanovich,Robert Reid,Mike Dunleavy Sr.,Allen Leavell,Billy Paultz,Bill Willoughby,Calvin Garrett,Tom Henderson, andMajor Jones. The Rockets clinched the last spot in the playoffs on the final night of the regular season following a loss by theGolden State Warriors to Seattle, as Golden State had the tiebreaker over Houston.^[1] Houston tied withKansas City for second place in the Midwest behind San Antonio with a regular season record of 40–42 (this would be only the second time that an NBA team with a losing record would make the Finals, after1959).

Houston's playoff run began by drawing the defending NBA championLos Angeles Lakers andMagic Johnson in the first round. The Rockets upset Los Angeles, two games to one, with the Rockets winning both games in Los Angeles. The Western Conference semifinals matchup featured the Rockets against the Spurs and multi-year scoring championGeorge Gervin in a Texas Shootout. The Rockets would win the series in seven games behind strong contributions from Murphy and Reid, including Murphy's career playoff high of 42 points in the climactic Game 7 at San Antonio. This set up an unlikely Conference finals matchup with Kansas City, being that both teams finished the regular season with identical losing records, together compiling just 80 total victories of 164 games played. The Kings, led byOtis Birdsong,Scott Wedman, andPhil Ford fell to the Rockets in five games, and the Rockets would break into the NBA Finals for the first time, the first of four in franchise history. It would be the only time two conference finalists in the playoffs both had losing records, and the second and last time to date a team with a losing record made it all the way to the Finals round (the first being the1959Minneapolis Lakers).

This was the Celtics' first appearance in The Finals since their 1976 championship winning team against thePhoenix Suns. The Celtics were not quite the same team as five years before, as they added the likes ofLarry Bird,Robert Parish, andKevin McHale, a trio that would come to be known as "The Big Three."M. L. Carr,Cedric Maxwell, andNate Archibald were also capable players off the bench, and key cogs in Boston's balanced offensive attack. However, the Celtics lost future Hall of FamersDave Cowens andJoJo White to retirement. Still, the Celtics, led by Bird, won 62 games and managed to squeak past Philadelphia for the league's best record due to tiebreakers.

The Celtics's playoff run started with a first-round bye, straight into the conference semifinals. Despite the layoff, the Celtics easily swept theArtis Gilmore-ledChicago Bulls, and then faced the defending Eastern Conference championPhiladelphia 76ers for the right to advance to The Finals. After a hard-fought and physical series, the Celtics eventually came back from a three-games-to-one deficit to defeat the Sixers, repeating a feat they accomplished in 1968. Five of the games in the series ended with the winning team on top by two points or less, including a 91-90 nail-biter in Game 7.

Both teams had met in the playoffs theyear earlier, when the Rockets were in their final season in the Eastern Conference. The 1980 Eastern Conference semifinal matchup had a slightly different Celtics team, withHall of Fame centerDave Cowens still playing for the team, as well not featuring perennial starsKevin McHale andRobert Parish, both of whom would not arrive in Boston until the1981 season.Rick Barry for Houston was also in the final season of his career in 1980. The Celtics blew out the Rockets in a four-game sweep, by a total of 74 points in the 1980 Eastern Conference semis.^[2]

(*)The Celtics were tied with the Philadelphia 76ers for the NBA's best record, but the Celtics earned the division title and the overall top seed based on tie-breakers.

TheBoston Celtics won both games in the regular season series:

No one figured this series to be much of a Finals. Houston, in fact, had lost its previous dozen games to the Celtics, including a 4–0 series sweep in the previous years' playoffs. But Malone, who had averaged nearly 28 points and 15 rebounds over the season, would have none of the "Boston Curse". He came into the series fired up, going so far as to call the Celtics "chumps". The Celtics, meanwhile, were coming off three close games in the Eastern Conference finals in upsetting the heavily favoredPhiladelphia 76ers. So, the Celtics were understandably flat.

Houston led 57–51 at the half and kept that intensity through the game. Late in the fourth period, with the Celtics trailing 87–84, Bird put up an 18-footer from the right side. As soon as he turned it loose, he immediately rushed in for the rebound. He caught the ball in midair as his momentum was carrying him out of bounds on the baseline just right of the lane. In an instant, he switched the ball to his left hand (a right-handed shot would have hit the side of the backboard) and flipped it in the basket. Bird would finish with 18 points, 21 rebounds, and nine assists.Moses Malone would grab 15 rebounds, but was held to 13 points.

The crowd went nuts over Bird's shot, with general managerRed Auerbach leading the cheers.Bill Russell, who was broadcasting the game for CBS, looked on in disbelief.

"Larry was able to make the play", said Russell, "because he not only knew where the ball was going to land, he knew that he knew."

The shot carried Boston to a 98–95 win and Auerbach proclaimed, "It was one of the best shots I've ever seen a player make."

Malone would come up big in this game, scoring 31 points and pulling down another 15 boards.Bill Willoughby would add 14 off the bench to make up for poor shooting byRobert Reid (0 for 7) andCalvin Murphy (4 for 13). Reserve guardAllen Leavell's late basket would give the Rockets the 92–90 victory. Bird would lead the Celtics once again with 19 points and 21 rebounds. The victory was Houston's eighth road win of the playoffs, a record that stood until the 1995 Rockets won nine playoff games en route to winning the championship.

With the series back in Houston,Robert Reid, matched up withLarry Bird, would begin to garner attention for his defense on the Celtics star, holding him to three baskets and eight points. But, the Celtics would not need Bird's scoring in this one. The Rockets shot a paltry 3 for 17 in the second quarter, fell behind by 17, and never recovered.

The Celtics had six players who scored in double figures, led byCedric Maxwell with 19 points. His teammates, meanwhile, played some pretty good defense of their own, holding the Rockets to 71 points, the lowest output for an NBA team in a Finals game since theSyracuse Nationals scored 71 in the 1955 NBA Finals (which was, incidentally, the year theshot clock was introduced). The record low stood until it was embarrassingly shattered by theUtah Jazz in Game 3 of the1998 Finals when they lost 96–54 toChicago Bulls.

Reid continued his air-tight defense on Bird, holding him to another eight points, while scoring 19 himself. The star of this game wasMike Dunleavy, Sr., who had 28 points. Malone would add 24 points and 22 rebounds as the Rockets tied the series. Another key was the Rockets' relentless offensive rebounding and second-chance opportunities; they grabbed 28 offensive rebounds (Reid had 10 and Malone nine with four put-back dunks) on the way to out-shooting the Celtics in attempts, 103 to 74.

The Rockets had a losing regular season record at 40–42, but, up to Game 5, they showed they definitely belonged in the finals with the Celtics. So, no one could blameMoses Malone for doing some trash-talking. Earlier, he had simply declared, "Boston ain't that good." Before Game 5, though, Malone went a little too far, saying, "I could get four guys off the street in Petersburg (Virginia, Malone's hometown) and beat them." This was all coachBill Fitch would need to motivate his troops.

With Bird still struggling offensively,Cedric Maxwell shouldered the load, scoring 28 points and pulling down 15 rebounds and sparking several fast breaks to a Celtics rout, 109–80.

The infamous on-air incident betweenRick Barry andBill Russell occurred early in the third quarter of this game.^[3]

Motivated from Malone's previous barbs, the Celtics took it right to the Rockets back atThe Summit, leading 84–67 in the final period. However, as coach Fitch looked on in disgust, the Celtics went five minutes without a basket as the Rockets, led byCalvin Garrett, reeled off 13 unanswered points in a furious comeback and eventually cut the lead to only three, with the Houston crowd erupting louder after each basket.Larry Bird then finally broke out of his shooting doldrums to personally blunt the Rockets' rally. Bird hit a 15-foot jumper, fed series MVP Maxwell for a basket, and hit a back-breaking, 24-foot, three-point shot to put the Rockets away for good and send Boston to its 14th NBA Championship, and at last a championship ring for 11-year veteranNate Archibald.

As of 2024, this is the most recent time the Celtics have clinched a championship on the road, with each of their next four titles being won at home.

Boston Celtics

Houston Rockets

^[4]

• The 1981 NBA Finals received the lowest televisionrating in history up to that point, with a 6.7 rating. (It would remain the lowest ever until the 2003 Finals between theSan Antonio Spurs andNew Jersey Nets drew a 6.5 rating.) Due to this, the 1981 finals were the last to be broadcast on tape-delay, with weeknight games airing after the late local news in most cities. Games 3 and 4 were played back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday, May 9 and 10, to giveCBS two live Finals games; it is the last time Finals games were played on consecutive days. Game 3 was the last Finals contest played on a Saturday until Game 5 in2021. Game 4 tipped off at noon Central (1 p.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Pacific) in order for CBS to telecast golf following the game. Had Game 7 been played, it would have tipped off at 1 p.m. Eastern.
• Following the Finals,Gary Bender became the lead play-by-play announcer forCBS' coverage of theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, whileRick Barry's contract, following his questionable racial comments aboutBill Russell during the Finals, was not renewed. Russell would remain the main color analyst for the next two years alongside newly promoted main play-by-play commentatorDick Stockton. Curiously, Barry and Russell would reunite, this time on theNBA on TBS for two seasons beginning in the 1984–85 season. Russell was replaced as CBS' lead analyst following the1983 Finals by former Celtics teammateTom Heinsohn.
• Brent Musburger narrated the duration of the 1981 NBA Playoffs on film, known as "The Dynasty Renewed". The 1981 film was expanded from 30 minutes to one hour, with more highlights from rounds prior to the finals.

• 1981 NBA playoffs

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