The series exposed some of Boston's weaknesses, such as the lack of bench scoring, which was exploited after Kevin McHale moved to the starting lineup with Cedric Maxwell bothered by knee injuries.

In the offseason, president Red Auerbach decided to tweak the roster, trading Maxwell to the Los Angeles Clippers for oft-injured center Bill Walton.

Then in the conference finals, Boston swept the Milwaukee Bucks in four games, a direct reversal of their second round meeting in the 1983 NBA Playoffs.

Long-time Rockets Calvin Murphy and Rudy Tomjanovich retired, while Mike Dunleavy, Sr., Bill Willoughby, Tom Henderson and Billy Paultz moved on to different teams.

Houston also added some valuable role players to complement the duo and holdovers Allen Leavell and Robert Reid, acquiring Rodney McCray, Lewis Lloyd, Craig Ehlo, Mitchell Wiggins and Jim Petersen.

Game 4 was a tense battle at the Summit, which the Celtics won 106–103, with Bill Walton coming off the bench for a tired Robert Parish to score a crucial basket.

While Jim Petersen led the Rockets to a decisive victory, Sampson's actions motivated the Celtics to end the series in six.

[citation needed] Bird dismantled the young Rockets in game 6; the raucous Garden crowd booed every time Sampson touched the ball.

[4] Bird was named the Finals' MVP for that year, averaging 24 points, 9.7 rebounds, 9.7 assists, and 2.7 steals per game for the series.

Larry Bird paced the Celtics with 31 points on 12-for-19 shooting, while Kevin McHale added 25 in another Boston rout.

Ralph Sampson led the Rockets with 25 points, while Akeem Olajuwon, Robert Reid and Rodney McCray added 21, 19 and 17 respectively.

Though Kevin McHale scored 33, Larry Bird was held to only 17 points, ultimately leading to one of the worst losses suffered by the Celtics that season.

Larry Bird recorded a triple-double of 29 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists to pace a lopsided Boston win that clinched their 16th NBA championship.

This would be the city of Boston's last professional sports championship until 2002 when the New England Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI.

Had the 1985 Patriots and the 1986 Boston Red Sox won Super Bowl XX and the 1986 World Series, respectively (the Patriots lost 46–10 to the Chicago Bears, while the Red Sox lost in seven games to the New York Mets), it would have given Boston three different professional sports championships in the same calendar year.

In 2007–08, the city came very close to achieving this, as the 2007 Red Sox and 2007–08 Celtics won titles, but the 2007 Patriots lost Super Bowl XLII to the New York Giants.