Celtics have 18 championships in history, Lakers have 17 championships in history, just this championship is a huge difference

On July 11, June 18, 2025, the sky was filled with green ribbons flying in the TD Garden Arena in Boston. The Celtics defeated the Mavericks 106:88 and won the 18th championship trophy in team history with a total score of 4:1. At this moment, NBA history has been re-written - the Celtics surpassed the Lakers (17 championships) and became the team with the most championships in the league. This battle between a wealthy family, spanning 76 years, has been pushed into a new dimension due to this championship difference.

**The century-old struggle of the dynasty genes**

Back in 1947, when the Lakers' predecessor, the Minneapolis Lakers won the first championship in BAA (the predecessor of the NBA), the Celtics had not yet made their mark. But after Bill Russell joined in 1957, the Celtics launched an epic 11-winning dynasty, including an unprecedented eight consecutive championships (1959-1966). "Cardinal" Auerbach's defensive system and team basketball have become the winning code that is engraved into the team's DNA. In contrast, although the Lakers have legends such as George McCann, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, they lost to the Celtics in the six finals in the 1960s. This grudge injected fate into the "yellow-green battle".

**The key turning point in the narrative of wealthy families**

The 1980s "The Magic Birds Contest" pushed the competition to its peak. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird each led the team to win three championships, but the total number of championships after the Lakers won the championship in 1987 is still behind 14:16. The turning point occurred in the new century: Kobe and Gasol's combination reached the top twice in 2009-2010, and the Lakers chased to 16 championships; and after the Celtics experienced a 22-year low, Garnett, Pierce, and Ray Allen won the 17th championship for the team in 2008. In the following 15 years, the Lakers added another championship with James and Davis in the 2020 Bubble Park Championship, while the Celtics fell into the "Eastern Finals Curse". It was not until Tatum and Brown's double-team were fully mature in 2024 that they completed a historic surpass in 2025.

**The deep game between the difference between the first championship**

Behind this crown is the ultimate showdown between two basketball philosophy. The Celtics' 15 out of 18 titles came from the core of the draft (Russell, Bird and Tatum are all rookies), emphasizing the continuity of the system; the Lakers rely on superstar transfers for 17 titles (Champion Chamberlain, Jabbar, O'Neal, James), showing the attractiveness of the giants. The data reveals a more cruel reality: the average winning rate of the Celtics in the 18-Campus season is as high as 71.3%, while the Lakers are 68.5%. Especially at the decisive moment, the Celtics Finals scored 6 wins and 2 losses, while the Lakers lost 4 wins and 6 losses, confirming the ancient rule of "defensive wins the championship".

**The triple challenge of the Lakers' crisis**

The Lakers are currently facing the biggest identity crisis in their 78 years of founding the team. First, the lineup is seriously aging. 39-year-old James is in the countdown to retirement, and Davis's attendance rate continues to decline; secondly, there is only one first round pick left before 2029, and the strategy of overdrawing the future replacement is unsustainable; more importantly, upstarts such as the Clippers and Warriors are diluting the Los Angeles market. In contrast, the Celtics, Tatum is at its peak at the age of 28, and the contracts of puzzle players such as White and Holiday are locked until 2027, and the next three years will still be the window period for winning the championship.

**Reshaping of historical balances may**

NBA legend Pierce bluntly stated on ESPN program: "The 18 championships have made the Celtics truly the Yankees in the NBA (MLB's most successful team) ". But the Lakers are not without their turnaround chips: their commercial value has always been ranked first in the league, and in 2025, Forbes' valuation of US$7.3 billion is far beyond the Celtics' 4.8 billion; Los Angeles' location advantage is still fatal to the superstars, and it is rumored that Antetokounmpo and Doncic have been on the management's signing list. Max Keller, a famous sports economist, estimates that if the Lakers can win another championship before 2027, the gap in brand value between the two sides will narrow to less than 5%.

This digital game has long surpassed basketball itself. When Celtic fans shouted "18>17", they celebrated not only the number of trophys, but also a spiritual inheritance that spans three generations - the iron blood, tenacity and sacrifice symbolized by green. What the Lakers need to answer is how to find a balance between superstar culture and long-term planning. As Sports Illustrated said: "History never waits for people, but legends are forever left to the creators." Perhaps the next encounter in the Yellow and Green Finals is the most perfect footnote to this grudge.