Boston Celtics icon KC Jones dies at 88

Icon Sportswire via Getty Images (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

A longtime rival to the Los Angeles Lakers has died at 88.

Boston Celtics announced the passing of the team's icon K.C. Jones on Christmas Day. Jones won 12 NBA championships as a player and as a coach.

During the 1980s, Jones led the Celtics to some of NBA's most iconic battles against LA's beloved "Showtime Lakers." At the height of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry, Jones' team in Boston featured hall-of-fame legends Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. 

The Lakers fell to the Celtics in the 1984 NBA Finals, before LA got its revenge in the 1985 NBA Finals. The two teams faced each other in the finals again in 1987, with the Lakers beating the Celtics in six games.

Prior to the epic battles in the 1980s, Jones had also coached for Harvard, the Lakers as an assistant coach from 1971-1972, the San Diego Conquistadors, the Washington Bullets, the Milwaukee Bucks as an assistant coach, the Seattle Supersonics and the Detroit Pistons as an assistant coach.

The team did not specify how or when Jones died.

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