When talking about the best NBA teams of all time, it can become an exercise in futility to rank great teams in order. Fans – particularly those of different generations – will argue over the merits of this team or that team, but the truth is that there is no correct answer. Some like the Bulls from the mid-90s, whereas others think the cohesion of the mid-80s Celtics was remarkable. Others still prefer modern teams like the Warriors of the late 2010s. 

Yet, it is inarguable that the Los Angeles Lakers of the early 1970s are in the conversation as one of the greatest of all time. We haven’t made that argument here – as we said, it’s futile – but we will look back at some of the things that made this team so dominant. They were, for want of a better term, a team of bullies, not in the sense that they were mean, but in the sense that they flattened the opposition—a remarkable team in a fantastic era. 

The Story Preseason

As documented in Lakers history, the 1971 offseason saw a significant coaching change, with Bill Sharman replacing Joe Mullaney. Sharman’s mandate was clear from the offset: Break the hoodoo of the Los Angeles Lakers being a great ‘losing’ team. The Lakers lost seven NBA Finals between 1962 and 1970, an incredibly unwanted record. It was also time to deliver a championship to veteran stars Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West. The former had won one title with the 76ers in 1967; the latter had none. 

The Lakers were obviously highly rated going into the season, despite that championship drought. But there were also doubts. Chamberlain had begun to develop injury issues in previous seasons. Elgin Baylor had injury problems that would eventually end his career during the regular season. Yet, events would mean that things would fall into place as the team bedded in new players, absorbed Sharman’s tactics, and stars like Chamberlain adjusted their game. 

The Early Season

The Lakers started the season okay, but not spectacularly, going 6-3. Chamberlain and West were excellent, as expected, but Gail Goodrich put a marker down as the team’s primary scoring threat. It was in November, however, when things clicked into gear. On November 5th, the Lakers had a hard-fought win over the Baltimore Bullets, but it kickstarted the now-famous 33-game unbeaten streak – they would not lose again until January 9th, 1973. 

During that run, the Lakers pulverized teams, which got to the heart of what we mean by bullies. Look at this sequence of results: December 17th beat Golden State by 30 points; the next game beat Phoenix by 26 points; the subsequent game scored 154 points against Philadelphia. The Lakers were for bettors trying to beat NBA spreads, and they finished up the season beating teams by an average of 12.3 points per game – the best record in NBA history. 

The Run-In & Contenders

By spring, everyone was talking about the Lakers as bona fide contenders, and rightly so. Yet, there were other great teams in the mix, too. In the Western Conference, Lakers fans were nervously looking at the Milwaukee Bucks led by Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, who would eventually be named the regular season MVP ahead of Chamberlain and West. They were the reigning champions, too, having set their 20-game winning streak the season before. Over in the Eastern Conference, the Lakers’ old foe, the Boston Celtics, was doing well, and the New York Knicks showed signs of being a Playoff-caliber team.

Yet, the Lakers did what they had to do across the spring months. They lost games occasionally, but it began to feel of little consequence. By the time the regular season ended, they would post 69-13, a record that stood until the mid-1990s and remains the third-best of all time. Alongside West, Chamberlain, and Goodrich, players like Happy Hairston, Jim McMillan, and Flynn Robinson also pitched in. It was clear that the Lakers had plenty of depth. 

The Playoffs and Breaking the Curse

With the No.1 seed secured, the Lakers would face the Chicago Bulls in the Western Conference Semifinals. It went by the formbook and would never go any other way after the first game at the Forum. It felt, too, that the trio of Chamberlain, West, and Goodrich were getting better with every game. In Game 4 vs. the Bulls, Chamberlain recorded 31 rebounds. He looked unstoppable as the Lakers stormed to a 4-0 series victory. 

The formidable Milwaukee Bucks waited in the Conference Finals, and the opening game saw the Bucks’ defense hold the Lakers to just 73 points (their lowest tally of any game in the season). Jim McMillan was the star in Game 2, scoring 42 points to level the series at 1-1. The Lakers made it 2-1 with a hard-fought game in Milwaukee before the Bucks tied the series again with a dominant victory. Chamberlain again came good toward the end of the series, starring in Game 5 and 6 as the Lakers took a 4-2 victory. 

The Finals and Aftermath

Romantics would probably have loved to see the Boston Celtics as the Lakers’ NBA Finals opponents. After all, Boston caused so much pain for Lakers fans throughout the 1960s. Yet, the Knicks were probably the next best thing as a desired opponent to be defeated. The series started with a Lakers’ loss – a bad one – as the Knicks turned on the style at the Forum. Tongues began to wag that this would be another Lakers Finals ‘choke,’ but the players had other ideas. 

The Lakers bounced back in Game 2, tying the series at 1-1 before heading to New York. The first matchup at Madison Square Garden was among the best in Lakers’ history. Chamberlain takes a lot of the credit, but Happy Hairston also played like a man possesses. 2-1 Lakers. Game 4 was close, with West starring as the Lakers clinched it in overtime. And back at the forum, the Lakers clinched a first championship since the team moved from Milwaukee.   

Although the Lakers made it to the NBA Finals the next season, this felt like the end of an era victory for the team. West and Chamberlain would soon retire. As the years passed, Lakers fans would look to new heroes in yellow like Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It felt like a fitting swansong to the careers of West and Chamberlain, but it was also very much a team effort. A roster that put a new emphasis on the art of winning.

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