1971–72 Los Angeles Lakers season

During the 1971–72 season the Los Angeles Lakers won their first National Basketball Association (NBA) title since moving to Los Angeles. The Lakers defeated the New York Knicks in five games to win the title, after going 69–13 during the regular-season, a record that stood for 24 seasons until the 1995–96 Chicago Bulls went 72–10. During the regular season, they would also go on a current-standing NBA record 33-game winning streak. The team went on to win 81 regular season and playoff games overall, a record that would last for 14 years until Boston Celtics did it in 1986. In 1996, the 1971-72 Lakers were named as one of the Top 10 Teams in NBA History.

1971–72 Los Angeles Lakers season
NBA champions
Conference champions
Division champions
Head coachBill Sharman
OwnersJack Kent Cooke
ArenaThe Forum
Results
Record69–13 (.841)
PlaceDivision: 1st (Pacific)
Conference: 1st (Western)
Playoff finishNBA Champions
(Defeated Knicks 4–1)
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
TelevisionKTLA
RadioKABC

Offseason
  • Traded a 1971 2nd round draft pick to the Cincinnati Royals for guard Flynn Robinson.
  • Hired Bill Sharman as the new head coach to replace Joe Mullaney.
  • Traded a 1972 2nd round draft pick to the Portland Trail Blazers for center Leroy Ellis.
  • Claimed forward John Trapp off waivers from the Houston Rockets.

NBA Draft
Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club Team
1 13 Jim Cleamons Guard  United States Ohio State

Roster
Roster listing
1971–72 Los Angeles Lakers roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.NameHeightWeightDOB (YYYY-MM-DD)From
F 22 Baylor, Elgin 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1934-09-16 Seattle
C 13 Chamberlain, Wilt 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 275 lb (125 kg) 1936-08-21 Kansas
G 11 Cleamons, Jim 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1949-09-13 Ohio State
C 14 Ellis, Leroy 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1940-03-10 St. John's
F 24 Erickson, Keith 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1944-04-19 UCLA
G 25 Goodrich, Gail 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1943-04-23 UCLA
F 52 Hairston, Happy 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 255 lb (116 kg) 1942-05-31 New York
F 5 McMillian, Jim 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1948-03-11 Columbia
G 12 Riley, Pat 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1945-03-20 Kentucky
G 21 Robinson, Flynn 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1941-04-28 Wyoming
F 31 Trapp, John 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1945-10-02 UNLV
G 44 West, Jerry 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1938-05-28 West Virginia
Head coach
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured

Roster
Last transaction: 2013-03-22

Regular season

Since moving to Los Angeles, the Lakers were repeatedly foiled by the Boston Celtics in their attempts to capture an NBA title. The Lakers lost the championship to them six times in eight years. In 1970, with the aging Celtics out of title contention, the Lakers lost in the NBA finals to the New York Knicks. In 1971, after losing Jerry West to a season-ending injury in February, they lost in the Western Conference finals to the powerful Milwaukee Bucks.

Going into the 1971–72 season, many experts thought the chance at a championship had passed for this aging team. Star players Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, and Jerry West were all in their 30s, and had all missed significant time due to injuries in the prior two seasons. The defending champion Milwaukee Bucks, led by superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar appeared to be starting a new NBA dynasty. But new coach Bill Sharman still believed the Lakers had the talent to contend. He introduced strict conditioning drills and implemented a running fast break based offense. He re-tooled Wilt Chamberlain's game to focus on defense, rebounding, and jump starting the fast break with quick outlet passes to guards Jerry West and Gail Goodrich. The only casualty of this system was the aging Baylor, who could not physically handle the up tempo practices and offense and retired 9 games into the season. He was replaced at small forward by Jim McMillian who played at a near all star level.

Shortly thereafter, the Lakers strung together a record 33-game win streak. The streak ended on January 9, 1972, against the Milwaukee Bucks.[1] The Lakers and Bucks then staged a season long race for the league's best record, with the Lakers setting a then NBA record with 69 wins (the Bucks had the second best record at 63–19).

Season standings
Pacific Division W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
y-Los Angeles Lakers 6913.841–36–531–72–121–3
x-Golden State Warriors 5131.6221827–821–203–314–10
Seattle SuperSonics 4735.5732228–1218–221–112–12
Houston Rockets 3448.4153515–2014–235–59–15
Portland Trail Blazers 1864.2205114–264–350–34–20
# Western Conference
Team W L PCT
1 z-Los Angeles Lakers6913.841
2 y-Milwaukee Bucks6319.768
3 x-Chicago Bulls5725.695
4 x-Golden State Warriors5131.622
5 Phoenix Suns4933.598
6 Seattle SuperSonics4735.573
7 Houston Rockets3448.415
8 Detroit Pistons2656.317
9 Portland Trail Blazers1864.220
z – clinched division title
y – clinched division title
x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents
1971–72 NBA Records
Team ATL BAL BOS BUF CHI CIN CLE DET GSW HOU LAL MIL NYK PHI PHO POR SEA
Atlanta —2–40–44–20–53–34–23–23–21–40–52–33–13–33–24–01–4
Baltimore 4–2—2–23–31–44–21–53–21–43–21–40–52–44–04–13–12–3
Boston 4–02–2—6–03–24–25–15–02–35–01–42–33–36–02–34–02–3
Buffalo 2–43–30–6—1–33–34–22–41–30–40–40–41–53–30–42–40–4
Chicago 5–04–12–33–1—3–14–05–13–35–11–32–43–24–15–16–02–3
Cincinnati 3–32–42–43–31–3—6–22–32–30–41–40–52–22–22–32–20–5
Cleveland 2–45–11–52–40–42–6—1–30–42–21–30–41–52–40–44–20–4
Detroit 2–32–30–54–21–53–23–1—0–53–31–41–51–41–42–42–20–4
Golden State 2–34–13–23–13–33–24–05–0—5–11–52–22–34–12–34–24–2
Houston 4–12–30–54–01–54–02–23–31–5—1–50–50–54–11–34–23–3
Los Angeles 5–04–14–14–03–14–13–14–15–15–1—4–14–15–04–26–05–1
Milwaukee 3–25–03–24–04–25–04–05–12–25–01–4—2–34–14–26–06–0
New York 1–34–23–35–12–32–25–14–13–25–01–43–2—3–31–43–13–2
Philadelphia 3–30–40–63–31–42–24–24–11–41–40–51–43–3—1–42–24–1
Phoenix 2–31–43–24–01–53–24–04–23–23–12–42–44–14–1—6–03–2
Portland 0–41–30–44–20–62–22–42–22–42–40–60–61–32–20–6—0–6
Seattle 4–13–23–24–03–25–04–04–02–43–31–50–62–31–42–36–0—

Season schedule
1971–72 season game log
October 6–3 (Home: 1–2; Road: 5–1)
November 14–0 (Home: 9–0; Road: 5–0)
December 16–0 (Home: 7–0; Road: 9–0)
January 8–4 (Home: 4–1; Road: 4–3)
February 13–4 (Home: 7–1; Road: 5–2; Neutral: 1–1)
March 12–2 (Home: 8–1; Road: 3–1; Neutral: 1–0)
Season Schedule

Playoffs
1971–72 playoff game log
Conference Semifinals 4–0 (Home: 2–0; Road: 2–0)
Conference Finals 4–2 (Home: 2–1; Road: 2–1)
NBA Finals 4–1 (Home: 2–1; Road: 2–0)
Playoff Schedule

Player statistics

Regular Season
Player GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
Elgin Baylor926.6.433.8156.32.011.8
Wilt Chamberlain8242.3.649.42219.24.014.8
Jim Cleamons385.3.350.7781.00.92.6
LeRoy Ellis7414.6.460.6954.20.64.6
Keith Erickson1517.5.482.8572.62.35.7
Gail Goodrich8237.1.487.8503.64.525.9
Happy Hairston8034.4.461.77913.12.413.1
Jim McMillian8038.1.482.7916.52.618.8
Pat Riley6713.8.447.7431.91.16.7
Flynn Robinson6415.7.490.8601.82.29.9
John Trapp5813.1.443.6993.10.75.7
Jerry West7738.6.477.8144.29.725.8

Playoffs
Player GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
Wilt Chamberlain1546.9.563.49221.03.314.7
Jim Cleamons62.8.571N/A0.70.71.3
LeRoy Ellis1310.3.463.2503.20.83.0
Gail Goodrich1538.3.445.8982.53.323.8
Happy Hairston1538.5.440.79413.12.113.5
Jim McMillian1541.6.447.8575.71.519.1
Pat Riley1516.3.333.7501.90.95.2
Flynn Robinson710.3.463.7001.90.76.4
John Trapp107.1.242.5711.60.52.0
Jerry West1540.5.376.8304.98.922.9

NBA finals
Main article: 1972 NBA Finals

The Los Angeles Lakers played against the New York Knicks in the NBA finals during the postseason.

Game 1

Although without Willis Reed because of his knee injury. Jerry Lucas scored 26 points but was only one of several Knicks who was red hot. Bill Bradley hit 11 of 12 shots from the field as New York shot 53 percent for the game. The team took advantage of a nearly perfect first half to jump to a good lead and won easily, 114–92. Early in the second half, the Forum crowd began filing out dejectedly. It looked like another Los Angeles fold in the Finals.

Game 2

Knicks forward Dave DeBusschere hurt his side and didn't play after the first half. Hairston scored 12 points in the second half, and Los Angeles evened the series with a 106–92 win.

Game 3

DeBusschere attempted to play in the first half and missed all six of his field-goal attempts. He was hurting and elected not to play in the second half. DeBusschere explained, "I didn't feel I was helping the team." The Lakers danced out to a 22-point lead and regained the home-court advantage with a 107–96 win.

Game 4

The game went into overtime, but at the end of regulation, Wilt Chamberlain picked up his fifth foul. In 13 NBA seasons, he had never fouled out of a game, a history he was immensely proud of but also one that usually led to him playing less aggressively when he was on the verge of getting a 6th foul. As the press waited for Wilt to take the floor and hurt the Lakers by reverting to a passive style, he instead came out in a shotblocking fury that propelled the Lakers to a 116–111 win. At three games to one, their lead now seemed insurmountable.

Game 5

The Lakers won their sixth NBA championship by the score of 114–100. This was their first championship since moving to Los Angeles in 1960. Jerry West also won his first NBA championship after 12 years of waiting. Wilt Chamberlain scored 24 points and 29 rebounds and earned the NBA Finals MVP Award.

Award winners
  • Bill Sharman, NBA Coach of the Year
  • Jerry West, All-NBA First Team
  • Jerry West, All-NBA Defensive First Team
  • Wilt Chamberlain, All-NBA Defensive First Team
  • Wilt Chamberlain, NBA Leader, Shooting Percentage (.649)[2]

References
  1. Numbelivable!, p.58, Michael X. Ferraro and John Veneziano, Triumph Books, Chicago, Illinois, 2007, ISBN 978-1-57243-990-0
  2. Numbelivable!, p.58, Michael X. Ferraro and John Veneziano, Triumph Books, Chicago, Illinois, 2007, ISBN 978-1-57243-990-0
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