Following a midseason trade with the Lakers in 1987, Larry Bird was displeased with the Spurs.

Following a midseason trade with the Lakers in 1987, Larry Bird was displeased with the Spurs.

It was likely that Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics would play the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1986–1987 NBA Finals. The year before, the Boston Celtics had won a championship after defeating the Houston Rockets in six games. After losing to those Rockets in the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers were ravenous.

The Lakers and the Celtics made it to the NBA Finals five and four times, respectively, between 1980 and 1986. A trade that the San Antonio Spurs made with the Lakers in February 1987 didn’t sit well with Bird and the Celtics.

In 1987, Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics were hoping to win it all again.

Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics, in the foreground, and Junior Bridgeman of the Milwaukee Bucks react to a ball that is dropped during an NBA basketball game at Boston Garden in Boston on March 18, 1987. | Getty Images via Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe
With a 59-23 record at the end of the 86-87 season, the Celtics held the best record in the Eastern Conference. Despite being a fairly thin group on the bench, they were dominant. In the first round of the playoffs, Boston easily defeated the Chicago Bulls, led by Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, and Bird, maybe the best frontcourt in basketball history. The Boston Celtics then prevailed in seven games over the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons to win the championship.

The Boston starting lineup powered the team through the postseason, particularly with reserve center Bill Walton out. Indeed, in the Celtics’ 109-103 victory over the Lakers in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, the starting lineup scored 105 of the team’s 109 points. Off the bench, Darren Daye and Fred Roberts each scored a field goal.

Just three Celtics backups appeared in Game 4, which the Lakers won 107-106. They played for a total of twenty-five minutes and scored four points.

The Celtics signed Walton the previous season, and he gave them significant minutes as Parish’s replacement. Walton played 24 minutes and finished the series with six points against the Lakers.

Following a trade with the Lakers in February of 1987, Larry Bird was not overly pleased with the Spurs.

Though not the largest deal, it might have been the one that helped the Lakers defeat the Celtics in the 1987 NBA Finals. The Lakers struck a trade that reinforced their bench and frontcourt in an effort to bolster their team in preparation for the postseason.

In return for Petur Gudmundsson, Frank Brickowski, a first-round pick (Greg Anderson), a second-round pick in 1990 (Sean Higgins), and cash, the Lakers acquired 6-foot-11 center Mychal Thompson from the Spurs. Although it would sound like a lot, it was really very little in return for someone who correctly spelled Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

In his ten minutes of action, Walton managed just two points and three rebounds while being completely inconsequential.

The Celtics’ season-long issue has been the bench. In a meeting with the Denver Nuggets in February, McHale even made light of Boston’s lack of depth. In a 119-105 victory, McHale scored the first 11 points for the squad.

I was supposed to score the first 121 points, but I started to feel a little worn out,” McHale stated.

With the Thompson trade, the Lakers took advantage of that lack of depth, and it paid off with a championship.