Play Lakers Versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs Online

Lakers Versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs came out on the Sega Genesis in 1990, published by Electronic Arts. It was one of the earlier basketball games on the system, arriving before the NBA Jam era brought a more arcade style to the genre. This game tried to capture a more simulation-oriented feel of professional basketball at the time.

You control a full team of five players, switching between them on the fly to play defense, set picks, and drive for layups. The main objective is to win playoff series against CPU teams or a friend in two-player mode. Signature mechanics include calling specific plays from a menu, managing player fatigue with substitutions, and intentionally fouling to stop the clock. The pacing is deliberate, almost methodical, and the difficulty can be steep, especially against the CPU's relentless offense. It feels like a thoughtful, sometimes frustrating, attempt to translate the strategic side of basketball onto a 16-bit console.