The Celtics would go on to win their 16th championship and the last for 22 years, defeating the Houston Rockets in six games in the NBA Finals, and had won 82 combined regular season and playoff games, a record that stood until the Chicago Bulls racked up 87 combined wins en route to a title in 1996 (with the Golden State Warriors later breaking that record in 2016 with 88 combined wins, including a 73–9 regular season record, although they infamously lost in the finals that season after leading the series 3–1).
HoopsHype later ranked this squad as the team with the 17th easiest path to the NBA Finals in 2024 due to the 30–52 record of their first round opponent, the Chicago Bulls.
They started their 1985–86 season campaign with a 109-113 OT loss to the New Jersey Nets, despite a near quadruple-double performance from Larry Bird who recorded 21 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 8 steals for the Celtics.
[2] The next day, Kevin McHale's 26 points and 15 rebounds led the Celtics towards a 105–100 road win over the Cavaliers.
[3] Four days later, the Celtics defeated the visiting Bucks, 117–106, with Bird, McHale, Parish and Johnson, all scoring at least 20 points.