:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66663424/89131911.jpg.0.jpg)
In the spirit of the quest to find the “Best Team To Never Win A Championship”, this week’s episode of “I Love Basketball” discusses some of the Lakers teams to make the list.
After an in-depth conversation about H-O-R-S-E involving production value and potential rule changes (semifinals are on tonight!), Sabreena and Anthony go through three really good Lakers teams that nonetheless didn’t win the title: the 1961-62 Elgin Baylor/Jerry West team, the 1997-98 pre-Phil Jackson Shaq Lakers, and the 2012-13 “Now This Is Going To Be Fun” Lakers.
The two of them take a deep dive down memory lane to go through what made these teams great, but also the specific challenges they faced in those seasons that prevented them from winning a championship. They also talk about what changes each of those teams made to eventually become title-worthy, and consider how the 2019-20 team will compare to others on this list if they never get a chance to play in the postseason.
The brunt of the discussion ended up being about why it’s so hard to find a Lakers team that meets the qualifications of this list that was also truly great.
You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.
You can follow Sabreena and Anthony on Twitter at @sabreenajm and @AnthonyIrwinLA.