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.
Other key contributors of the 1980–81 team were Rudy Tomjanovich, Robert Reid, Mike Dunleavy Sr., Allen Leavell, Billy Paultz, Bill Willoughby, Calvin Garrett, Tom Henderson, and Major Jones.
Houston's playoff run began by drawing the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers and Magic Johnson in the first round.
The Western Conference Semifinals matchup featured the Rockets against the Spurs and multi-year scoring champion George Gervin in a Texas Shootout.
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 Celtics were not quite the same team as five years before, as they added the likes of Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale, a trio that would come to be known as "The Big Three."
M. L. Carr, Cedric Maxwell, and Nate Archibald were also capable players off the bench, and key cogs in Boston's balanced offensive attack.
Still, the Celtics, led by Bird, won 62 games and managed to squeak past Philadelphia for the league's best record due to tiebreakers.
Despite the layoff, the Celtics easily swept the Artis Gilmore-led Chicago Bulls, and then faced the defending Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia 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.
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.
With the series back in Houston, Robert Reid, matched up with Larry Bird, would begin to garner attention for his defense on the Celtics star, holding him to three baskets and eight points.
The record low stood until it was embarrassingly shattered by the Utah Jazz in Game 3 of the 1998 Finals when they lost 96–54 to Chicago Bulls.
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.
[3] Motivated from Malone's previous barbs, the Celtics took it right to the Rockets back at The Summit, leading 84–67 in the final period.