The Celtics–Lakers rivalry is a National Basketball Association (NBA) rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Celtics and the Lakers are the two most storied franchises in the NBA, and the rivalry has been called the greatest in the NBA. The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers have met a record 12 times in the NBA Finals, with their first such meeting being in 1959. They would both go on to dominate the league in the 1960s and 1980s, facing each other in the Finals six times in the 1960s, three times in the 1980s, and twice since the year 2000. The Lakers and Celtics are tied for the highest number of championships in the NBA at 17 apiece, (12 as the L.A. Lakers and 5 as the Minneapolis Lakers). Together, they account for 34 of the 74 championships (or 45%) in NBA history. As of 2018, the Celtics and Lakers have a .590 and .596 all-time winning records respectively. As of the end of the 2020–21 season, Boston is the only team with a winning overall record against the Lakers. The rivalry has been less intense since the retirements of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in the early 1990s. In 2008 the two teams met in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1987, with the Celtics winning the series 4–2. They met again in the 2010 NBA Finals, which the Lakers won in 7 games. From Wikipedia
