Game 1 was dubbed the Memorial Day Massacre. In this game, Boston beat the Lakers 148-114 in front of nearly 15,000 people at the Boston Garden.
Boston had a 38-24 lead at the end of the first and never looked back, sealing what was, at the time, the most lopsided victory in NBA Finals history.
Every available statistic appropriately summed up the vast disparity.
The Lakers trailed by 30 points at halftime. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had as many personal fouls (three) as rebounds and was exposed in every defensive category imaginable.
The Celtics shot 61% from the field, and Scott Wedman hit a playoff record for field accuracy by hitting all 11 of his shot attempts.
The Lakers had no answer for Boston’s frontline in Larry Bird (19 points, nine assists), Kevin McHale (26 points, nine rebounds), and Robert Parrish (18 points, eight rebounds).
“It was a nightmare,” Magic Johnson told The Times.
Things started getting physical in the third quarter. First, Byron Scott shoved a forearm into Danny Ainge’s back, and Ainge retaliated, whipping the ball back at Scott. Then a few moments later, McHale smacked Scott with an elbow on the back of the head.
“We’ve been buried before,” Lakers Coach Pat Riley said. “But we’ve never had dirt thrown in our faces.”
An unlikely hero for Boston Celtics was Scott Wedman and his perfect shooting that led the onslaught and buried the Lakers, handing them the second-worst Finals loss in their storied franchise history to that point.
Wedman scored 26 points in 23 minutes and made all 11 shots he took from the field, including four three-pointers.
No player in the 68 years of championship series play has ever made that many shots in a game without missing.
Lakers would bounce back from the blowout win, defeating the Celtics in four of the next five games to win the series in six games, avenging a loss to Boston in the Finals from a season before.
It was the first time in history that the Lakers won the NBA championship on the floor of the Boston Garden.
