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NBA Finals Trivia
- The first NBA Finals was held in 1947
- The trophy awarded to the winners of the NBA Finals was originally referred to as the NBA Finals trophy, but was renamed in 1964 after Walter A. Brown. In 1984 it was again renamed, and is currently called the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
- The winning trophy is a statue of a basketball on a plinth, and made out of silver and vermeil. It is designed to look like a basketball about to enter a net.
- The current trophy design was first awarded in 1977. The winners get to keep this trophy and a new one is made every year, unlike the original championship trophy which was handed back each year and re-awarded to the next winning team.
- The Boston Celtics
have the best success rate, winning 18 out of a total of 23 finals series that they have played in. (see all winners)
- The Eastern Conference leads the Western Conference in series won. The defunct Central Division won one championship - in 1950.
- From Michael Jordan’s first finals victory in 1991 until 2014, there was a pattern of NBA Finals teams. The team was coached by Phil Jackson or was from the State of Texas or Florida.
- Another pattern points to superstars. Since 1980, a star player will be featured every finals like Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Hakeem Olajuwon, Isiah Thomas, Tim Duncan or LeBron James. (is that still true?)
- The only rookie to win the Finals Series MVP is Magic Johnson in 1979. He was also the youngest ever, at 20 years and 276 days old. The odest to win the award was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at 38 years and 54 days old in 1985.
- Andre Iguodala is the only winner of the MVP to have not started every game in the series.
- The only person to win the MVP award while being on the losing team was Jerry West in the 1969 finals, the first time the award was presented.
- In 2020, LeBron James was named the NBA Finals MVP for the fourth time in his career, becoming the first player in league history to be named Finals MVP with three different franchises.
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