#3
The 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers
Regular Season: 69-13 (84.1)
Playoffs: 12-3 (80)
Total: 81-16 (83.5)
Award Winners;
Wilt Chamberlain: Finals MVP, 2nd Team All-NBA, 1st Team All-Defense, All Star
Gail Goodrich: All Star
Jerry West: 1st Team All-NBA, 1st Team All-Defense, All Star, All Star MVP
Bill Sharman: Coach of the Year
When I think of the history of the Lakers in LA before 1972, I think of both greatness and futility. Greatness because of some of their players, like Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain. Futility, because despite those players, they never won a championship, and instead lost in the NBA Finals seven times, six of them to the same damn team.
The Lakers started out in Minneapolis as part of the old NBL (National Basketball League), and joined the BAA (now the NBA) in 1948, winning five championships in six seasons between between 1949 and 1954. They were led by one of pro basketball’s first great stars, the 6’10 center, George Mikan, as well as power forward Vern Mikkelsen. Mikan retired after winning his fifth championship in ‘54, but returned for the second half of the ‘56 season before retiring for good. Big George wasn’t the fastest player, and he didn’t like the way the new shot clock had sped up the game. Once he was gone, the Lakers fell off and so did attendance in Minneapolis.
In 1958 the Lakers missed the playoffs for the first time, but they drafted Elgin Baylor that Summer. He became a cornerstone of the franchise for over a decade. Although the Lakers finished below .500 in ‘58-59, Baylor led them on an unlikely Finals run, but they lost to the Celtics in the first of twelve meetings to date between the two teams. In 1960, the Lakers made two big moves; first, they drafted Jerry West at number one, and he became one of the best guards of all time. Second, they relocated to Los Angeles, and became the first NBA team on the west coast.
The talented young Lakers were back in the Finals in 1962, but lost to Boston again, this time in seven games, with the clincher decided by just three points. 1963 brought another Finals loss against Boston, this time in six games. In 1965, they lost to the Celtics again. This time it wasn’t close, and the ‘65 Celts were maybe the best of those dynasty teams. The Lakers were beaten in five, and three of their losses were blowouts. Guess what happened in 1966? The Lakers lost in the Finals to the Celtics again, with this one being more akin to 1962. A game seven loss decided by two points gave the Celtics their eighth straight title. They met again in 1968, and the Celtics were victorious in six. God damn, if I was a Lakers fan I would really hate the Celtics.
In the Summer of ‘68, Lakers fans must’ve thought their troubles were over when their team picked up one of the greatest ever, Wilt Chamberlain, in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. As great as he was on paper, Wilt could be difficult to work with and wasn’t the best leader or follower, and didn’t get along great with veteran Elgin Baylor. In the Finals that year, the Lakers met who else but the Celtics for the seventh time in eleven seasons. Bill Russell and Sam Jones were both in their mid-30s and headed for retirement, and Boston only won 48 games that year, so not many gave them a chance against what some call the NBA’s first “super team.” But guess what happened. The Celtics did it again, winning game seven by two points. Despite the loss, Jerry West played so well that he received the first ever Finals MVP award. In 1970, LA lost yet another Finals, this time to a new team, the New York Knicks, led by Walt Frazier and Willis Reed.
What finally changed things for the Lakers wasn’t a player but a coach, former Celtics shooting guard Bill Sharman, who’d won four championships in Boston in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. His assistant coach was another former Celtic, K.C. Jones, who had success later as a head coach, winning two titles with Boston in the mid ‘80s. Having an assistant was one of Sharman’s innovations. He also introduced novel concepts like pre-game shootarounds and having his players study film. His biggest contribution was changing the way the Lakers used Wilt Chamberlain. Sharman saw how effective Bill Russell had been in Boston despite his stats (other than rebounding) not being that eye-popping. It’s not like Russell didn’t score, but his main duties were to play amazing defense, block God knows how many shots, rebound, and make outlet passes to get the fast break going. Sharman knew that Wilt, who had three or four inches and 60 or 70 pounds on Russell, could do these things brilliantly if he was willing to.
Luckily for LA, he was, and his change in stats from ‘71 to ‘72 mirrored the one from 1966 to ‘67, the last time Wilt’s team had won it all. The 35 year old center’s points dropped from 20.7 to 14.8, and he went from taking 15 shots a game to 9.3, while his field goal percentage rose from 54.5 to 64.9. His rebounds also increased from 18.2 to 19.2. 33 year old point guard Jerry West was still going strong as well with 25.8 points and a league-leading 9.7 assists a game. 25 year old shooting guard Gail Goodrich put up 25.9 points and 4.5 assists on 48.7% shooting and shot 85% at the line. 23 year old small forward Jim McMillan averaged 18.5 points and 6.5 rebounds, and power forward Happy Hairston had over 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Elgin Baylor began to decline during the ‘69-70 season, playing only 54 games that year. Knee problems slowed him down and in November of 1970 he suffered an Achilles tendon injury, sidelining him for nearly a year, and he played only two games in the ‘70-71 season. Nine games into ‘71-72 he decided to retire, giving up a chance to finally win a championship. He was offered a role on the team coming off the bench, but he didn’t want to play if he couldn’t be Elgin Baylor anymore.
Despite the sad end to Baylor’s career, the team ended up being one of the greatest in franchise history, and went 69-13 in the regular season. On Halloween of 1971, they lost 109-105 to the Golden State Warriors. They didn’t lose again until January 9th, 1972, after posting a winning streak of 33 games, an NBA record that still stands. It took a great Milwaukee Bucks team and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 39 points and 20 rebounds to finally stop the madness. The most recent teams to come within shouting distance of that mark were the Warriors, who won their last four games in 2015 and then won the first 24 games of the ‘15-16 season, for a total of 28 wins, and the Miami Heat, who won 27 straight during the 2013 regular season.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Lakers faced the 57 win Chicago Bulls, led by Bob Love, Chet Walker and Jerry Sloan. LA made short work of them, winning all four games by between 7 and 15 points. The biggest win was 95-80 at home in game one. Gail Goodrich led all scorers with 32 points and 7 assists, and Jerry West had 23 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds. Chamberlain and Hairston both had 10 points and 17 rebounds. West was great in game two as well, with 37 points, 11 assists and 6 rebounds.
In the Western Conference Finals, The Lakers met a formidable opponent in the 63 win Milwaukee Bucks, who had streamrolled the league the year before, winning 66 games and cruising to a championship. They were led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and Bob Dandridge, and they blew the Lakers out 93-72 in game one in LA. Kareem was Kareem, scoring 33 points and grabbing 18 rebounds, and Curtis Perry grabbed 18 rebounds to go with 8 points. LA barely pulled out a one point win in game two, 135-134. Jim McMillan led all scorers with 42 points and 7 rebounds, Jerry West had 28 points, 13 assists and 7 rebounds, and Gail Goodrich put up 25 points and 5 rebounds. The Lakers won another tight one in Milwaukee in game three, 108-105. Milwaukee thrashed LA in game four though, 114-88. Kareem had a routine 31 points and 18 rebounds, Bod Dandridge had a strong 24 points and 15 rebounds, and Curtis Perry was the leading rebounder with 19 boards to go with 11 points. Back home in game five, the Lakers got ‘em back with a 115-90 win of their own. Jim McMillan led LA’s scoring with 25 points, Wilt grabbed 26 rebounds to go with 12 points and 6 assists, Jerry West had 22 points and 10 assists and Gail Goodrich had 22 points. LA clinched it 104-100 in Milwaukee in game six. The series was a real clash of the titans, and honestly could’ve gone either way.
In the Finals, the Lakers met the 48 win New York Knicks, who’d beaten them to win their first championship in 1970. The ‘72 Knicks were led by Walt Frazier, Jerry Lucas, Dave DeBusschere and Bill Bradley. New York’s star center Willis Reed only played eleven games that year due to knee issues and missed the entire playoffs. Despite the loss of Reed, the Knicks came out hot and won game one in LA 114-92. Bill Bradley led the scoring with 29 points, Jerry Lucas had 26 points and 7 rebounds, DeBusschere had 19 points and 18 rebounds and Walt Frazier put up a triple double with 14 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. The Lakers quickly recovered though, winning the next four straight by between 5 and 14 points and clinching their first championship since leaving Minneapolis. The last game was a big win, 114-100 in LA, and Wilt Chamberlain was the hero with 24 points and 29 rebounds on 10 of 14 shooting. The whole staring five made major contributions; Gail Goodrich led the scoring with 25 points; Jerry West, who finally had a title after losing seven straight, put up 23 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds; Jim McMillan had 20 points and Happy Hairston had 13 points and 14 rebounds. Wilt Chamberlain won his second Finals MVP, averaging 19.4 points and 23.2 rebounds on 60% shooting in the series.
The following year, the Lakers made it back to the Finals but lost a re-match to the New York Knicks in their third meeting in four seasons. Wilt Chamberlain retired after that season, but not before setting another NBA record by shooting 72.7% from the field. Jim McMillan was traded to the Buffalo Braves (now Los Angeles Clippers) that off-season. Jerry West retired in 1974, and in 1975 the Lakers missed the playoffs for the first time since 1958, when they were still in Minneapolis. Happy Hairston retired in 1975 and Gail Goodrich moved on to the New Orleans Jazz in ‘76. In the 1975 off-season, Los Angeles traded for their old foe, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Surprisingly, they missed the playoffs again in ‘76, but that was more due to the weird way that playoff seeding was determined in that era than their mediocre record of 40-42. Coach Bill Sharman was gone after that season and it wasn’t until LA drafted Magic Johnson in 1979 that all the pieces fit together once again.
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