NBA Tournament of Champions: Larry Bird Bracket Finals

Much of NBA history is the history of the Lakers and the Celtics. With more than half the representatives in the Tournament of Champions between them, it's no surprise that a Lakers/Celtics matchup has occurred plenty of times so far. If you count one matchup where the Lakers were still in Minneapolis, we've had eight such showdowns between these two illustrious franchises, including six in the opening round. It seems only fitting, really, that in Larry Bird's bracket, we have a final between the Lakers and Celtics. Their ninth clash commences in a moment.

As a reminder, this series will be a best of seven (2-2-1-1-1 format), with home court going to the team with the better overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Results from the first and second round can be found at the corresponding links. Let Showtime commence!

'88 Los Angeles Lakers (77-29) vs '86 Boston Celtics (82-18)
Game 1: @ '86 Celtics 103, '88 Lakers 102 (BOS leads 1-0)
Game 2: @ '86 Celtics 123, '88 Lakers 108 (BOS leads 2-0)
Game 3: @ '88 Lakers 114, '86 Celtics 98 (BOS leads 2-1)
Game 4: @ '88 Lakers 122, '86 Celtics 117 (Series tied 2-2)
Game 5: '88 Lakers 108. @ '86 Celtics 98 (LAL leads 3-2)
Game 6: @ '88 Lakers 110, '86 Celtics 105 (LAL wins 4-2)
...Somebody go check to make sure Bill Simmons is still okay. I figured this would be a tight series, but I expected Boston to pull it out. Dennis Johnson had a great Game 1 to help Boston hang on, then they blew the doors open in Game 2. Just when I thought it was over the Lakers came out of nowhere. Magic had a triple double in Game 3 and while Kareem really didn't do a lot, other guys really stepped it up. Byron Scott provided a lot of offense to help Magic, and in the clincher, who else but Big Game James would you expect to finish it off? He had 34 to push the Lakers into the quarterfinals of the whole shebang, while Magic added a second triple double. Bird also had a triple double in Game 5, and in Game 6 a Celtic comeback that gave them a brief lead late in the 4th didn't hold up.

To see the updated bracket, click here.

A lot of games went into this bracket, and while in the grand scheme of things it's not surprising to see an 80's Lakers team move on, I am a little surprised that what some of the greatest basketball minds consider to be the best team ever get bounced before then. Such is basketball, though. Of course, we can't move on yet though without naming the Larry Bird All Bracket Team:

• PG: Magic Johnson ('88 LAL, 19 G): 19.3 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 11.1 APG, 0.1 BPG, 2.3 SPG; 49/25/90
• SG: Byron Scott ('88 LAL, 19 G): 19.2 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 3.8 APG, 0.4 BPG, 2.1 SPG; 48/28/90
• SF: Larry Bird ('86 BOS, 15 G): 24.1 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 6.7 APG, 0.6 BPG, 2 SPG; 47/43/91
• PF: Kevin McHale ('86 BOS, 15 G): 20.5 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 2.3 APG, 2.0 BPG, 0.5 SPG; 58/NA/76
• C: Hakeem Olajuwon ('94 HOU, 12 G): 24.3 PPG, 11.3 RPG, 3.4 APG, 4.7 BPG, 1.5 SPG; 52/0/77

Larry Bird Bracket MVP: Magic Johnson ('88 LAL). Six triple doubles in 19 games?! This is a no-brainer. Honestly, it was between him and Bird for MVP and was going to depend on whose team won. Larry provided more scoring and rebounding but Magic was more of a distributor; like their careers, both men were brilliant in their own ways. And to think, if Houston was able to complete the comeback last round we might be talking about Hakeem for Bracket MVP.

The Greatest of All Time has his bracket up tomorrow. Unfortunately, he's not playing in the last series of the round in his bracket. Will a younger Larry Bird lead his team to the promised land, or will LeBron get a second team to the round of 8?