Full video: https://youtu.be/EfsC9gjrw5E Every NBA Championship starting with the 1957 season. But for context we have to go back 8 years… It’s 1949, the beginning of the NBA, and the best team in the league has just won their third championship trophy - - the Minneapolis Lakers. The Lakers are on one of the greatest starts to a franchise in sports history. Winning 5 titles between 1949 and ‘54 with their best man, George Mikan. [PUT A CARD LINKING MIKAN VIDEO] Meanwhile on the other side of the country, an irish dynasty is brewing. It’s 1950, and Coach Red Auerbach just left the Tri-Cities Blackhawks to join the Boston Celtics. The game’s best passer also just joined the team, Bob Cousy. The anchor to a good scoring team who through the 50’s can’t get past the Eastern Division Finals. The Lakers just won their fifth title(1954), without George Mikan, who was finally getting older, and dealing with injuries. In 1956, Mikan retired, leaving the greatest franchise in basketball looking for a replacement to the league’s best player. That title now belonged to Mr. Cousy of the Celtics, an opportunity to figure out how to become a dynasty even more successful than the Lakers. In 1956 the Celtics make a trade with the St. Louis Hawks, to draft Bill Russell. A defensive ball god with a winner's mentality similar to Jordan or Kobe. Red Auerbach had just made the best draft move in basketball’s young history. Russell had just come off a 55 game win streak and two NCAA titles with San Francisco. Russell was a defensive force, the league couldn’t match up with, immediately dominating the league. Averaging 20 rebounds a game, and although blocks weren’t counted until 1973 - - teammates say he had 10 blocks a game. In 1957 Russell and Cousy would come up with the outlet pass, and fastbreak teams to death as Cousy wins MVP He and Russell would begin their takeover of the National Basketball Association They would lead their Celtics to a league best 44 and 28 record. Winning the Eastern Division. While the Lakers are fighting for the 1 spot in the West, they end up in a tie with the St. Louis Hawks and Fort Wayne Pistons. So for the tiebreaker, the Lakers and Pistons would go to St. Louis, the winner gets the 1 seed. And St. Louis has their eyes on the championship, and know what they could do with a fresh roster after a first round bye. The Hawks beat the Pistons by 12, but the next game against the Lakers wouldn’t be so easy. Minneapolis also knows how important the 1 seed is after having been to so many NBA Finals. They want it just as badly. They push the tiebreaker game to overtime, but couldn’t outlast the Hawks losing by 4. In 1957, the NBA only has 8 teams.So the first round of the playoffs was best of 3, the Eastern and Western Finals is best of 5 and the NBA Finals added two games with a best of seven. Minneapolis enters the playoffs as a two seed, having lost the 1 seed to St. Louis, they’ll face the Fort Wayne Pistons. Over in the East the one seed Boston Celtics earned a first round bye, immediately appearing in the Eastern Division Finals, they’ll take on the Syracuse Nationals. 2 Years earlier the Nationals were NBA champs, beating the Fort Wayne Pistons in 7 games. Eastern Division Finals Game 1 But Red Auerbach’s made some moves making the Celtics impossible to match up with. Bill Russell’s defense helps Boston hold the Nationals to just 28% from the field in game 1 at the Garden. Offensively the Celtics were intimidating as well, as 6 players go for double digits taking game one by 18 points. Game 2 It’s back to Syracuse for game 2, where Boston would again have no problems defending the Nationals, who shot 35% this game. The Celtics had a secret weapon, rookie of the year Tom Heinsohn, who had 30 points this game. And on top of Cousy’s 25, and Russell’s 20 Boston goes up 2 nothin’ over the Nationals. Game 3 Now it’s game 3 and we’re back at the Garden where the Nationals face elimination. They were focused and ready to take it to the Celtics. They defended their best game of the series, holding Boston to just 29% shooting. But Boston was just as intense, holding Syracuse to 29% as well. Who had made the last game close, but in the end were no match for Boston dropping game 3 by just 3 points. The Celtics just swept their way to their first ever NBA Finals appearance. Red Auerbach now realized he’d made the moves to potentially build the league’s next great dynasty. He’d just have to get them to execute, the goal was to get everyone to forget about Minneapolis’ early 50s dynasty. Back in the West, the Lakers would try a Finals run of their own, beginning the playoffs against their rivals the Fort Wayne Pistons. 10 years ago (1947) the Lakers were the Detroit Gems. They had moved to Minneapolis after a horrible season winning just four games in 1946