Power of Caring
  presented by CIGNA

		Oct. 29, 1984 In SI's NBA Preview issue, staff writer Alexander Wolff predicted: "When the 7 1/2-month-long game of musical chairs ends on some muggy June evening in Philadelphia or Los Angeles or (why not?) Detroit, the team that will be left sitting on the throne will not be the Boston Celtics." Some of the reasons 15 straight NBA champions had failed to repeat? More teams; more rounds in the playoffs; free agency. Despite the advice from Bill Russell, Bird's Celtics fell to the Lakers in the '85 Finals. photography by Andy Hayt