Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are based Boston, Massachusetts and like the New York Knicks they are still located in its original city. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the NBA. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners L.L.C. The Celtics’ 17 NBA Championships are the most for any NBA franchise. From 1957 to 1969, the Celtics dominated the league winning 11 championships in 13 years, and eight in a row (1959–1966), the longest consecutive championship winning streak of any North American professional sports team.

The Celtics either dominated the league or played a large part in the playoffs starting in the late 50′s and continuing through the mid 80′s (winning 16 NBA Championships in 30 years between 1957 and 1986, and reaching at least the conference championship series in 29 of 35 seasons between 1953 and 1988). With the deaths of second overall draft pick Len Bias in 1986 and all-star Reggie Lewis in 1993, the team fell into a steady decline, only making the playoffs five times from 1993 to 2007. The franchise returned to prominence in 2007 when Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined Paul Pierce and led the team to its 17th championship. Four Celtics (Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Dave Cowens, and Larry Bird) have won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award for an NBA record total of 10 MVP awards.