Every year in June, the National Basketball Association's post-season concludes with its seven game championship series called the NBA Finals, a final showdown between the winners of the Eastern Conference Finals and the Western Conference Finals. The winning team of the championship, called the NBA World Championships Series until 1986, is awarded the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy. Today, the NBA Finals are broadcast worldwide in over 200 countries, and over its 64 Finals history has showcased such legendary players as Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, and Tim Duncan, alongside historical team dynasties and rivalries.
Originally called the NBA Finals Trophy, the trophy which had been distributed since the very first NBA Finals in 1947 (called the BAA Finals until the 1950 event) was renamed the Walter A. Brown Trophy in 1964, in honor of the then recently deceased original Boston Celtics owner who'd played an essential role in merging the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League (NBL) to the NBA in 1949. The initial trophy, an ornate and oversized silver chalice, had been presented to each year's champion, who would maintain possession only until the following year when the full time came to pass it along to the brand new champion if there clearly was one. In 1947, the very first professional basketball Finals were presented within the Basketball Association of America - then a league of eleven professional basketball teams including the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks - designed to take place each year between the champions of its Eastern Division and the Champions of its Western Division 스포츠중계. The initial took place between its Western Division's Chicago Stags and its Eastern Division's Philadelphia Warriors. The inaugural recipients became the Philadelphia Warriors after defeating the Chicago Stags in the 1947 Finals.
Following the 1976 season, the first sports trophy was retired to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, and a brand new trophy was designed for the 1977 Finals, though it kept Walter A. Brown's name originally. The brand new trophy design would be re-created each year there after to be awarded to each NBA Playoffs Champion for permanent possession to display in their property arenas. The initial recipients of the newly designed, permanent championship trophy were the Portland Trailblazers once they defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1977 NBA Finals.
In 1984, the trophy was renamed the Larry O'Brien NBA Championship Trophy in honor of the NBA's former commissioner who'd made significant contributions to the advancement of the game while serving in the position from 1975-1983 after leading a successful career in American Democratic politics from 1959 until 1975, and who'd recently retired.
The final recipients of the sports award as the Walter A. Brown Trophy were the Philadelphia 76ers after winning against the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1983 Finals. The initial recipients of the award under its new name were the Boston Celtics, after defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1984 NBA Playoffs.
