1976 Boston Celtics

Boston lost Don Chaney to the ABA and traded Paul Westphal to Phoenix for Charlie Scott, a guard who had averaged better than 20 points for three straight years. The bench thinned out, but the starting group held up, and the Celtics won the Atlantic for the fifth season running.

Dave Cowens and Paul Silas controlled the glass, White scored and steadied the offense, and Havlicek, now 36, still played heavy minutes. Scott gave them a second scoring guard and, in a quirk of the bracket, a chance against his former team.

The Finals against Phoenix produced Game 5, a triple-overtime classic at Boston Garden. Westphal nearly stole it for the Suns, Havlicek hit a shot that seemed to end it, and Gar Heard's buzzer-beater forced the third extra period. Deep reserve Glenn McDonald scored six key points in that overtime to help Boston survive 128-126. The Celtics closed the series in Game 6 in Phoenix.

White took Finals MVP. It was the last championship of the Havlicek and Cowens core, and the franchise would not win again until Larry Bird arrived.