Which NBA team has lost the most conference finals in its history?

Boston Celtics are one of the most decorated teams in NBA history with the side from Massachusetts holding the record (along with the LA Lakers) for the highest number of NBA Championship wins in history with 17.

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As things stand, the team from Beantown are desperate to secure their first title since 2008 and call the record their own by bagging the lifting the Larry O’Brien trophy in June. In order to do that, they first have to overcome the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals ahead of a match-up against the winner in the West as Dallas Mavericks face Minnesota Timberwolves.

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Game 1 of the series commences on Tuesday night at the TD Garden but it would serve Celtics fans well not to delve into the history books as the statistics from conference finals does not making for great reading for fans of the team in green.

Despite their impressive 17 times title wins, the Celtics numbers in the Eastern Conference finals are not so impressive with 38 final appearances and on only 22 occasions have Boston advanced with the Celtics enjoying two genuinely golden periods in the 1960s and 80s.

Since the turn of the century, the Massachusetts team have played in nine Eastern finals but only advanced on three occasions (2008, 2010 and 2022) with the 2007-08 season being the only time the team in green lifted the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.

The Pacers themselves have also fallen at the conference finals hurdle on seven occasions with the Lakers also holding this unwanted record in the Western Conference, falling in the finals five times as Los Angeles and twice as the Minneapolis Lakers (1964 and 1968).