Surprise Laker Credited As Reason LA Beat Boston in Memorable Finals

John Robinson | Oct 16, 2024

Jun 1984; Boston, MA, USA; FILE PHOTO; Los Angeles Lakers guard Michael Cooper (21) takes a shot over Boston Celtics guard Gerald Henderson (43) during the 1984 NBA Finals at the Boston Garden. The Celtics defeated the Lakers 4 games to 3. Mandatory Credit: Dick Raphael-Imagn Images / Dick Raphael-Imagn Images

After years of being advocated for by former teammates like Magic Johnson and Byron Scott, Los Angeles Lakers legend Michael Cooper was finally granted his ticket into basketball heaven as he was recently inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame.

The five-time NBA champion was the unsung hero for the Lakers throughout their dominant postseason runs as his defensive prowess made him a staple on their roster. Cooper was the X-factor in the Lakers ability to snap their eight consecutive finals losses at the hands of the Boston Celtics in 1985.

The five-time first-team All-Defensive team G/SF was key in helping the Lakers finally get over the hump against the Celtics who were lead by All-Time great Larry Bird.

During a story for the Los Angeles Times former Lakers' point guard Byron Scott talked about how important Cooper's performances were, that propelled the storied franchise to get past their rival in the Celtics.

“If we don’t have Coop, we don’t win those series,” Byron Scott said. "Having a guy like Coop who could come in and guard Larry and just specifically say, ‘I’m going to devote 100% of my effort on this end of the floor. Don’t even worry about the offensive end.’ But it just kind of freed up some other things."

"I think Larry said this over the years so many times that Coop was the best defensive player he ever played against. And if we don’t have Michael Cooper on that team, we don’t win those series. That’s how important he was to what we were doing on the defensive end because he made Larry work his ass off to score and that helped us on the other end as well. So, if we don’t have Coop, we don’t win those series.”

The Lakers spent years coming up short against the Celtics, despite winning championships none felt more bigger than finally putting a cork on that annoying green leprechaun.

“I think winning in 1985 was probably our greatest moment,” Cooper said. “Obviously the first championship [in 1980] was one of them, but we had finally beat the Boston Celtics and with the Lakers organization never being able to do that, we were able to eradicate a lot of the ghosts from the past and it took a weight off Jerry’s shoulders because we had done something that he couldn’t do."

"So, it was kind of like a win for the city, for our organization and it kind of changed basketball, and I was just glad to a part of that series. The Celtics were a team you had to beat, Larry Bird was a guy that had to be stopped in order to beat them and I was right there in the mix.”

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