The Lakers looked to bounce back from the previous year's painful loss to the Celtics in the championship series, and were still seeking to beat Boston for the first time ever in NBA Finals history.

This change of format came after David Stern had a conversation with Celtics legend Red Auerbach in 1984, who disliked the frequent traveling between games.

[3] With the help of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, the Los Angeles Lakers achieved their first NBA Finals victory over the Boston Celtics in nine meetings, four to two games.

The team as a whole underwent a slight evolution, as James Worthy supplanted Jamaal Wilkes as the starting small forward, while Byron Scott began to earn more minutes as the backup to both Magic Johnson and Michael Cooper.

For the second straight season, Larry Bird won the MVP award, while Kevin McHale won Sixth Man Award for the second year running, despite making the transition from bench cog to starter late in the season with Cedric Maxwell nursing a knee injury.

Danny Ainge also emerged as the team's starting shooting guard, after the Celtics traded Gerald Henderson to the Seattle SuperSonics in the offseason.

By that point, Boston's classic starting five under head coach K. C. Jones was solidified, featuring Bird, McHale and Robert Parish in the frontcourt, and Ainge and Dennis Johnson in the backcourt.

Lakers swingman Michael Cooper finished with 22 points on an 8 for 9 shooting performance, including several clutch outside jumpers down the stretch.

Abdul-Jabbar scored his 4,456th career point and became the league's all-time leading playoff scorer, which had previously been held by Lakers guard Jerry West.

The Celtics tied the series in the fourth game with a 107–105 win with a buzzer-beating jumper by Dennis Johnson, who scored 27 points.

The following Tuesday would be declared "Laker Day" by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley with a parade beginning at 9th in Broadway.

Boston would appear in two more NBA Finals before the decade was over winning it all the next year (against Houston), only to lose in a rematch to the Lakers in 1987.

It would take another 22 years before the Celtics would make another NBA Finals appearance again (which by that time the "Big 3" of Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish had long since retired) which they won against the Kobe Bryant-led Los Angeles Lakers in 6 games.