The 1966 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the 1966 NBA Playoffs, which concluded the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1965–66 season. The Eastern Division champion Boston Celtics faced the Western Division champion Los Angeles Lakers in a best-of-seven series that the Celtics won four games to three. For the Celtics this was their tenth straight finals appearance, which tied a North American professional sports record set by the NHL's Montreal Canadiens from 1951 to 1960, and the NFL's Cleveland Browns from 1946 to 1955.

Thus Boston won its eighth consecutive league title, which no other team has achieved in North American professional sports competition. Before Game 2, after the Los Angeles Lakers' comeback overtime win in Game 1, Red Auerbach, who had challenged the entire league to topple the Celtics from their reign by announcing he would retire after the season was over (thus giving his detractors "one last shot" at him), announced Bill Russell as the Celtics' coach for the 1966–67 season. Russell would be the first African American to coach in the NBA. Laker coach Fred Schaus privately fumed that Auerbach's hiring had taken away all of the accolades his Lakers should have received following their tremendous Game 1 win. The Celtics won the next three games and looked ready to close out Los Angeles in Game 5. However, the Lakers won the next two games, setting the stage for another classic Game 7 in the Boston Garden. The Celtics raced out to a huge lead and held off a late Los Angeles rally to capture the NBA title and send Red Auerbach out a champion.

This was the last NBA championship series until 2016 in which a team trailing 3 games to 1 rallied to force a Game 7.

Celtics win series 4–3

1965–66 Boston Celtics roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From SG 21 Bonham, Ron 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 192 lb (87 kg) Cincinnati C 11 Counts, Mel 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Oregon State G/F 28 Green, Si 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Duquesne G/F 17 Havlicek, John 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 203 lb (92 kg) Ohio State PG 25 Jones, K. C. 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 200 lb (91 kg) San Francisco SG 24 Jones, Sam 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 198 lb (90 kg) North Carolina Central SF 12 Naulls, Willie 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 225 lb (102 kg) UCLA F 19 Nelson, Don 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Iowa C 6 Russell, Bill 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) San Francisco SF 16 Sanders, Satch 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) NYU PF 18 Sauldsberry, Woody 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Texas Southern C/G 20 Siegfried, Larry 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Ohio State C 5 Thompson, John 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Providence F 12 Watts, Ron 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Wake Forest

Head coach Red Auerbach Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

• 1966 NBA Playoffs
• 1965–66 NBA season

• 1966 Finals at NBA.com
• 1966 NBA Playoffs at Basketball-Reference.com