Silver Screen and Roll - What was the best Lakers team to never win a championship?A Blog devoted to Lakers News, Commentary, and Analysishttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/13178/silver-fave.jpg2020-04-15T11:21:35-07:00http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/rss/stream/209864502020-04-15T11:21:35-07:002020-04-15T11:21:35-07:00Best Lakers Team To Never Win A Championship: Not Good Enough
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<img alt="Elgin Baylor with Coach and Teammate" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6BvzzTTfsUPb7wf2KItXrauShSI=/0x0:2683x1789/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66657667/515015106.jpg.0.jpg" />
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<p>The Lakers lost their first Game 7 to the Celtics in the 1962 NBA Finals. </p> <p id="8EICSu"><em><strong>EDITOR’S NOTE: </strong></em><em>This week, Mike Prada of SB Nation is doing a big breakdown of </em><a href="https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2020/4/13/21212510/titleless-nba-team-to-never-win-a-championship-series-thunder-jazz-kings-seattle-sonics"><em><strong>the best teams in NBA history to never win a title</strong></em></a><em>. Today, he reveals </em><a href="https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2020/4/15/21216914/nba-championship-contenders-who-werent-good-enough-jazz-stockton-malone-rockets-james-harden"><em><strong>“the not good enough”</strong></em></a><em> region of his bracket, which includes the 1961-62 </em><a href="https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/"><em><strong>Los Angeles Lakers</strong></em></a><em>, who lost to the </em><a href="https://www.celticsblog.com/"><em>Boston Celtics</em></a><em> in seven games in the </em><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/nba-finals"><em>NBA Finals</em></a><em>.</em></p>
<p id="w2V9Wj">The Lakers and the Celtics are yin and yang, equal and opposite forces forever locked in battle against one another.</p>
<p id="6eSEcU">If however, it is difficult for you to summon the proper ferocity against the Celtics given that they have only won one title in the last 33 years, allow me to direct you to the 1961-62 Lakers, and the beginnings of the L.A.–Boston rivalry. </p>
<aside id="M4kx0P"><div data-anthem-component="actionbox" data-anthem-component-data='{"title":"TITLELESS: The best non-champions in NBA history","description":"SB Nation’s quest to find the best NBA team that didn’t win a championship.","label":"How this works","url":"https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2020/4/13/21212510/titleless-nba-team-to-never-win-a-championship-series-thunder-jazz-kings-seattle-sonics"}'></div></aside><p id="h808XG"><a href="http://projects.latimes.com/lakers/season/1961-1962/">The 1961-62 Lakers</a> won the Western Division (the league only had nine teams at the time) going away. Led by fourth-year player Elgin Baylor and Jerry West and in his second season, the Lakers finished 54-26, 11 games ahead of the Cincinnati Royals. They were still six games worse than the Celtics for the best record in the NBA. </p>
<p id="g6NXml">Baylor and West were both first-team All-NBA selections, while Boston’s Bill Russell was named league MVP. Baylor led the Lakers with 38.3 points and 18.6 rebounds in 44.4 minutes per game. West was the team’s second-leading scorer and leading assist-man with 30.8 points and 5.4 assists in 41.2 minutes. Baylor’s gaudy statistics came in spite of the fact that he wasn’t with the team for much of the regular season and rarely practiced — he appeared in 48 of 80 games because he was on active duty with the United States Army Reserve and was only allowed to play on a weekend pass. </p>
<p id="3V63Tq">Power forward Rudy LaRusso, center Jim Krebs, and shooting guard Frank Selvy rounded out the Lakers’ starting lineup. Collectively, they averaged 41.9 points per game, or just a smidge more than Baylor by himself. The bench didn’t have any more serious offensive options, so the Lakers’ attack was mostly a two-man show of Baylor and West, supplemented by the occasional sweet shooting of Selvy. </p>
<p id="udNyVz">LaRusso was a good rebounder (13th in the league with 10.3 per game), but Krebs was a bit of a liability on the glass. On the perimeter, the Lakers could match up with anyone, but that mattered less before the 3-point shot came into existence; their undoing, particularly against the Celtics, came inside. Time and again, they were unable to collect key rebounds. </p>
<p id="O2DcGg">The Lakers earned a bye through the first round of the playoffs and then met the <a href="https://www.detroitbadboys.com/">Detroit Pistons</a> in the Western Division Finals. They took a 3-0 lead on Detroit before coasting to a series win in six games. That meant a trip to the Finals against the Celtics. </p>
<p id="EZXlNS">Boston had swept the Lakers in the 1959 NBA Finals, but this was the first time the two teams had met since the move to Los Angeles. The Lakers were huge underdogs going into the series: the Celtics had homecourt, they had won three straight titles, and they had a significant depth advantage over the Lakers. In addition to Russell, Bob Cousy and Tommy Heinsohn were second-team All-NBA selections, <a href="https://medium.com/us-basketball-thoughts/the-1962-nba-finals-were-the-turning-point-in-bill-russells-boston-celtics-dynasty-e649130f2843">Tom Sanders was regarded as one of the finest defenders</a> in the league, and Sam Jones and Frank Ramsey were prolific scorers. Most importantly, Jones could get his own shot, and that Lakers didn't really have that type of player beyond their top two. </p>
<p id="hICWIX">Despite the long odds, the Lakers left Boston with a split after winning Game 2. Baylor had an athletic advantage on the Celtics defenders, but West really shined with 40 points on only 23 shot attempts. The 23-year-old secured the victory in Game 3 by stealing the ball at on the inbounds and racing to lay it in as time expired. </p>
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<p id="OwBSQP">The Lakers gave homecourt back by losing game 4, then improbably won the next game in Boston thanks to <a href="https://www.nba.com/history/top-moments/1962-elgin-baylor-lakers-finals">Baylor’s 61 points</a>, which remains a single-game NBA Finals record. Given the chance to clinch a title in Los Angeles, the Lakers fell apart in the third quarter; a balanced Boston attack featuring six double-digit scorers compared to only three for the home team forced a game 7. </p>
<p id="1WrW7s">The Celtics held a six-point lead at halftime, but the Lakers clawed back despite their depth disadvantage. Head coach Fred Schaus clearly didn’t trust his bench and rode his starters heavy minutes until three of them eventually fouled out. </p>
<p id="DYGYIk">As an aside, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L78v25cinYI">the game itself is surreal to watch</a>. Beyond the stars, most of the other players were unable to dribble with their left hand, and they took one-handed push-shot jumpers. Ray Felix was shooting free throws underhanded for the Lakers. Once a player got past his initial defender, help defense was almost nonexistent — unless, of course, you were facing Bill Russell. </p>
<p id="yymL4q">Russell had 40 rebounds in Game 7 as the Celtics outrebounded the Lakers 82-65 that night. Nevertheless, the Lakers found themselves in possession of the ball with the game tied at 100 on the final play of regulation with the opportunity to beat the Celtics at the Boston Garden and end their stranglehold over the Finals. </p>
<p id="0j38L8">Selvy inbounded the ball to Hot Rod Hundley. Hundley’s first option was West, but he was too tightly covered, so he passed back to Selvy, who took a relatively uncontested baseline jumper for the win. </p>
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<p id="7xD6em">Not good enough. </p>
<p id="YwPt8x">Baylor fouled out in overtime, and West alone couldn’t defeat the Celtics. The Lakers ended up losing to Boston five more times in the Finals this decade, including two more seven-game series. This was their best chance to topple their green enemy; instead, they were perennial bridesmaids to the Celtics for the rest of the 1960s.</p>
<p id="yRoptp">As they showed in the final game of the series, the Lakers simply didn’t have enough to get past the Celtics. A top-heavy squad got that couldn’t beat a complete team. Even when the outcome of the series came down to just one shot, they were simply outmatched. Their third-best scorer was unable hit a big shot when it counted, as Hundley regularly reminded him. </p>
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<p id="gOyR2L">Baylor and West are one of the greatest duos in league history. Their collective talent made the Lakers something special. But in 1962, against their sworn enemy, special didn't equate to a championship-level team. Those Lakers were good, just not quite good enough.</p>
<p id="9tLo3v"><em><strong>For more </strong></em><a href="https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/"><em><strong>Lakers</strong></em></a><em><strong> talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on </strong></em><a href="https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=66960X1516590&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Fsilver-screen-roll-for-los-angeles-lakers-fans%2Fid1439479212%3Fmt%3D2" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em><strong>iTunes</strong></em></a><em><strong>, </strong></em><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2XJK0kM4pR2uUy7WDmAybb?si=WZwWClvKRZeHeSTnuxdYrw"><em><strong>Spotify</strong></em></a><em><strong>, </strong></em><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/silver-screen-and-rollcast"><em><strong>Stitcher</strong></em></a><em><strong> or </strong></em><a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5wb2RjYXN0bWlycm9yLmNvbS9zaWx2ZXItc2NyZWVuLXJvbGw%3D"><em><strong>Google Podcasts</strong></em></a><em><strong>. You can follow Sabreena on Twitter at </strong></em><a href="https://twitter.com/sabreenajm"><em><strong>@sabreenajm.</strong></em></a></p>
https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2020/4/15/21221112/best-lakers-team-never-win-championship-not-good-enough-elgin-baylor-jerry-west-bill-russellSabreena Merchant2020-04-14T12:18:47-07:002020-04-14T12:18:47-07:00Best Lakers Team to Never Win a Championship: Overachiever Region
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<img alt="BKN-JAZZ-LAKERS-DEJECTION" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_H2W_hAx-D2kqwRexXMx7-0Rrso=/0x0:1989x1326/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66652292/1172700480.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo credit should read MIKE NELSON/AFP via Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The Lakers had to learn a few lesson before they could make history in the 2000s.</p> <p id="CpWTea"><em><strong>EDITOR’S NOTE: </strong></em><em>This week, Mike Prada of SB Nation is doing a big breakdown of </em><a href="https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2020/4/13/21212510/titleless-nba-team-to-never-win-a-championship-series-thunder-jazz-kings-seattle-sonics"><em><strong>the best teams in NBA history to never win a title</strong></em></a><em>. Today, he reveals </em><a href="https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2020/4/14/21216690/titleless-nba-teams-overachieved-fell-short-championship"><em><strong>“the overachievers”</strong></em></a><em> of his bracket, which includes the 1997-98 </em><a href="https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/"><em><strong>Los Angeles Lakers</strong></em></a><em>, who were swept in the Western Conference Finals by the </em><a href="https://www.slcdunk.com/"><em><strong>Utah Jazz</strong></em></a><em>.</em></p>
<p id="WAZfxj">Everyone knows about the famous “Shaq and Kobe” Lakers that won three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002, but there were three different “Shaq and Kobe” teams before their peak, one of which surprisingly made the Western Conference Finals in 1998.</p>
<p id="y7nJmr">The surprising part wasn’t that they made the Finals — I mean, they had Shaquille O’Neal, the most dominant center in the league, and an All-Star guard in Eddie Jones. They also had a pair of exciting young guards in <span>Kobe Bryant</span> and <span>Nick Van Exel</span>. If everything went right, they were going to go the distance. The only problem was that almost nothing went right, which is why they’re considered overachievers.</p>
<aside id="tIYXj7"><div data-anthem-component="actionbox" data-anthem-component-data='{"title":"TITLELESS: The best non-champions in NBA history","description":"SB Nation’s quest to find the best NBA team that didn’t win a championship.","label":"How this works","url":"https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2020/4/13/21212510/titleless-nba-team-to-never-win-a-championship-series-thunder-jazz-kings-seattle-sonics"}'></div></aside><p id="ocSVay">After the Lakers started their season 11-0 —their best start in franchise history to this day — O’Neal <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-oct-22-sp-45361-story.html">suffered an abdominal strain</a> that kept him sidelined for 20 games. The Lakers went 13-7 without O’Neal, which, all things considered, isn’t terrible, but injuries can easily disrupt a team’s rhythm, especially when the injured player is a star of O’Neal’s magnitude.</p>
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<img alt="Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WdWb8PJfXbhPqoYm80GaVKjYeeY=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19898503/1058139040.jpg.jpg">
<cite>Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images</cite>
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<p id="qkzCSo">Despite the obstacles they faced early in the season, they were able to go into the All-Star break with the second-best record in the Western Conference and third-best record in the NBA. Additionally, they had four players — Bryant, Van Exel, Jones and O’Neal — selected for the All-Star game in New York. It should be noted, though, that Bryant, who was 19 at the time, still wasn’t the All-Star player he’d grow to be — he wasn’t even a starter. For the season, Bryant averaged 15.4 points per game on 42.8% shooting from the field.</p>
<p id="pTBKPc">The truth is, a lot of the players on the team were just scratching the surface of their potential. They were fun, but they were also really young, and their raw talent wasn’t enough to get them past the battle-tested Utah Jazz, whose 1-2 punch of John Stockton and Karl Malone carried them to the Finals in the year prior, too.</p>
<p id="w8aQbk">On paper, the Lakers were more talented than the Jazz, but Utah was well-coach and played an up-tempo style of basketball that Los Angeles — specifically O’Neal — had a difficult time defending. They were also a talented defensive team, and had enough strength in the front court with Malone and Greg Osterag to keep O’Neal honest — or should I say, as honest as humanly possible.</p>
<p id="wazPLA">It obviously wasn’t the result that the Lakers or their fans wanted, but it was a necessary step in their development, and it inspired the front office to make a few win-now moves in the following seasons. This chapter might be sad, but the story has a happy ending.</p>
<p id="i2kIs1"><em><strong>For more</strong></em><strong> </strong><a href="https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/"><em><strong>Lakers</strong></em></a><em><strong> talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on </strong></em><a href="https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=66960X1516590&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Fsilver-screen-roll-for-los-angeles-lakers-fans%2Fid1439479212%3Fmt%3D2&xcust=xid:fr1570743697827iif%7Cxid:fr1570753377720aha%7Cxid:fr1570812124649ggi%7Cxid:fr1570822224376ehi%7Cxid:fr1570842241702jjf%7Cxid:fr1570884860795jgc%7Cxid:fr1570903904104deb%7Cxid:fr1570930525200fai%7Cxid:fr1570988232572iad%7Cxid:fr1571114492118hcj%7Cxid:fr1571207064951edi%7Cxid:fr1571249700082bdh%7Cxid:fr1571335828314ggf%7Cxid:fr1571341164135ejc%7Cxid:fr1571362693572bjb%7Cxid:fr1571422385582bgg%7Cxid:fr1571444712718hfe%7Cxid:fr1571595651378bef%7Cxid:fr1571610232593jeb%7Cxid:fr1571614831909bed%7Cxid:fr1571687448107hgf%7Cxid:fr1571850051013aji%7Cxid:fr1571857207602jcg%7Cxid:fr1571947742428hag%7Cxid:fr1576968128684ibe%7Cxid:fr1576980487015iag%7Cxid:fr1577046045578fgb%7Cxid:fr1577474580434heb%7Cxid:fr1577502881592baj%7Cxid:fr1577559310360gca%7Cxid:fr1577573965931fhe%7Cxid:fr1577597273665eid%7Cxid:fr1577647603982bdd%7Cxid:fr1577732770162bac%7Cxid:fr1578522321668abe%7Cxid:fr1578532178156djc%7Cxid:fr1578594909100haa%7Cxid:fr1582694144472aib%7Cxid:fr1582760298330che%7Cxid:fr1582915927705bjc%7Cxid:fr1582928070325jhg%7Cxid:fr1583100493835dai%7Cxid:fr1583261465677bfa%7Cxid:fr1583352631492bfh%7Cxid:fr1585075381006ccj%7Cxid:fr1585106485257aie%7Cxid:fr1585158704394gjf%7Cxid:fr1585163926288ddg%7Cxid:fr1585183023118aie%7Cxid:fr1585185801407edb%7Cxid:fr1585332403734bhf%7Cxid:fr1585341043383cbj%7Cxid:fr1585475888291bjj%7Cxid:fr1585591338741ege%7Cxid:fr1585620820092acb%7Cxid:fr1585627610911hcd%7Cxid:fr1585676949363bfc%7Cxid:fr1585683969282hbc%7Cxid:fr1585709610590hcb%7Cxid:fr1585768259987dhc%7Cxid:fr1585847562962edc%7Cxid:fr1585852832893cbi%7Cxid:fr1585881330197ceb%7Cxid:fr1585947147367cjj%7Cxid:fr1585952206168dbi%7Cxid:fr1586194680696dff%7Cxid:fr1586219262939jch%7Cxid:fr1586282151984dhf%7Cxid:fr1586286462548gcg%7Cxid:fr1586300795261cdg%7Cxid:fr1586370112839dhg%7Cxid:fr1586383767619ija%7Cxid:fr1586389576312ecf%7Cxid:fr1586458567360dha%7Cxid:fr1586484024210chg%7Cxid:fr1586630392305cdg%7Cxid:fr1586814098845ggb%7Cxid:fr1586884567952adj" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em><strong>iTunes</strong></em></a><em><strong>, </strong></em><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2XJK0kM4pR2uUy7WDmAybb?si=WZwWClvKRZeHeSTnuxdYrw"><em><strong>Spotify</strong></em></a><em><strong>, </strong></em><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/silver-screen-and-rollcast"><em><strong>Stitcher</strong></em></a><em><strong> or </strong></em><a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5wb2RjYXN0bWlycm9yLmNvbS9zaWx2ZXItc2NyZWVuLXJvbGw%3D"><em><strong>Google Podcasts</strong></em></a><em><strong>. You can follow this author on Twitter at </strong></em><a href="https://twitter.com/RadRivas"><em><strong>@RadRivas</strong></em></a><em><strong>.</strong></em></p>
https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2020/4/14/21220915/best-lakers-team-never-win-championship-overachiever-region-shaq-kobe-nick-van-exel-utah-jazz-nbaChristian Rivas2020-04-13T08:24:00-07:002020-04-13T08:24:00-07:00Best Lakers Team to Never Win a Championship: The Flameouts
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<img alt="Portland Trail Blazers v Los Angeles Lakers" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GgdakpwxEheqVwz0x3Ko7HqX15E=/0x371:2878x2290/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66644540/51895130.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The best Lakers team Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played for before Magic Johnson arrived fell apart in the Western Conference Finals.</p> <p id="0B3Kiq"><em><strong>EDITOR’S NOTE: </strong></em><em>This week, Mike Prada of SB Nation is doing a big breakdown of </em><a href="https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2020/4/13/21212510/titleless-nba-team-to-never-win-a-championship-series-thunder-jazz-kings-seattle-sonics"><em>the best teams in NBA history to never win a title</em></a><em>. Today, he reveals “</em><a href="https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2020/4/13/21216552/titleless-16-nba-teams-never-won-championship-seattle-supersonics-knicks-nuggets"><em>the flameout region</em></a><em>” of his bracket, which includes the 1976-77 </em><a href="https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/"><em>Los Angeles Lakers</em></a><em>, who were swept in the Western Conference Finals by the </em><a href="https://www.blazersedge.com/"><em>Portland Trail Blazers</em></a><em>.</em></p>
<p id="u1qddQ">Even for a franchise that defines itself by how many championship banners it has hung in the rafters, there should be no shame in simply losing to a better team. That’s exactly what happened to the 1976-77 Lakers, who lost to a team of destiny in the Portland Trail Blazers, who — led by Bill Walton, healthy and at the peak of his powers — won their first and only championship in franchise history that season.</p>
<p id="X4fSMI">But these Lakers were supposed to be better than a lost-to-history also-ran. Even though Magic Johnson wouldn’t join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to create “Showtime” until three seasons later, this team was still 53-29, the best record in the league. Abdul-Jabbar won MVP that season and helped the Lakers to the fifth-best offense and 10th-best defense in the league that year. Under first-year head coach Jerry West, the Lakers looked like they’d have a chance at at their first title since West played for the team.</p>
<aside id="rqxNPa"><div data-anthem-component="actionbox" data-anthem-component-data='{"title":"TITLELESS: The best non-champions in NBA history","description":"SB Nation’s quest to find the best NBA team that didn’t win a championship.","label":"How this works","url":"https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2020/4/13/21212510/titleless-nba-team-to-never-win-a-championship-series-thunder-jazz-kings-seattle-sonics"}'></div></aside><p id="heRsXS">Still, despite all those accomplishments, there were signs that this wasn’t the Lakers team meant to go all the way. That they might, as Prada’s bracket describes, “flame out.” For one thing, outside of their worse record, the Blazers had <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/POR/1977.html">better offensive and defensive efficiency</a> against a tougher schedule than the Lakers played and were overall just playing incredible basketball around their second-year star big man. </p>
<p id="OM2r3f">The Lakers also — outside of Abdul-Jabbar — didn’t exactly <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAL/1977.html">boast a ton of household names</a> that history remembers fondly. Lucius Allen and Cazzie Russell were their two next-best scorers after Kareem, and while I acknowledge that as someone born in 1991 I may be underrating this roster, after some research I really think it’s more of a testament to <a href="https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2020/4/5/21208733/lakers-profile-kareem-abdul-jabbar-most-under-appreciated-goat-skyhook-nba-all-time-leading-scorer">Abdul-Jabbar’s greatness</a> that they were as good as they were.</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Los Angeles Lakers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar..." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6Qr7akNDdhR3721zUlxvEv6RKc0=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19893363/877572784.jpg.jpg">
<cite>Photo by John Blanding/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was still in his prime, but the rest of the team around him couldn’t quite measure up.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="kUUCs5">The signs that this Lakers team might have been a bit of forum blue and fool’s gold continued in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs (the Lakers had a bye in the first because of their league-best record), when Abdul-Jabbar needed to average <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/1977-nba-western-conference-semifinals-warriors-vs-lakers.html">nearly 40 points and 20 rebounds per game</a> just to get the Lakers past the <a href="https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/">Golden State Warriors</a> in an unexpectedly difficult seven-game series.</p>
<p id="oQgykG">Maybe fatigue from that series played a part in how things would ultimately go, because the Lakers ran directly into a buzzsaw in the next round. It wasn’t that the Blazers walloped the Lakers. They didn’t, only winning the first game of the series by more than single digits. After that, the Lakers were right there in each one, losing by 2, 5, and 4 points in the next three games, respectively. </p>
<p id="r0tMzB">But a sweep doesn’t happen to a team that is nearly evenly matched, and without Abdul-Jabbar able to keep up his level from the prior series against Walton and the Blazers’ frontcourt — averaging “just” 30.3 points and 16 rebounds over the four games — the Lakers fell short. </p>
<p id="OuUJnh">Unlike Walton, Abdul-Jabbar didn’t get help from his teammates when it mattered most, either because they weren’t as good, or he couldn’t elevate them in the same way. The Lakers’ next leading scorer after Abdul-Jabbar that series was Russell, who averaged 16 for the sweep. Meanwhile, Walton and teammate <span>Lionel Hollins</span> each dished 5.8 assists per game, and Walton (19.3 points per game) was third on the well-balanced Blazers in scoring in the series behind Hollins (21.8) and the late <span>Maurice Lucas</span> (23). </p>
<p id="g8EMEh">The Lakers were a one-man show all season, and it was a great one, but Walton had an ensemble. In the end, it was a recipe for a Lakers flameout.</p>
<p id="D8Ygi1">Los Angeles wouldn’t win a title until Johnson showed up three seasons later, and this was the season they blew Abdul-Jabbar’s best chance to win one on his own. It was the best record any of his Lakers teams had pre-Magic, and the furthest any of those teams went.</p>
<p id="ln35gB">Interestingly enough, the team that beat this Lakers roster ultimately ended up having plenty of fingerprints on the franchise’s future. Walton’s son and Lucas’ namesake, <span>Luke Walton</span>, would go on to play for and coach the team. Hollins is now one of their top assistant coaches.</p>
<p id="9pEZfa">Those Lakers, meanwhile, are mostly lost to history and anonymity in the team’s already stuffed lore. Abdul-Jabbar is remembered, but much more for the Showtime teams that actually won. The rest of his teammates from this season aren’t really talked about. For a franchise that has always solely defined itself by winning, this is strangely fitting, even if in this case it’s the other side writing the definitions.</p>
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https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2020/4/13/21217576/best-lakers-team-never-win-championship-flameouts-pre-magic-johnson-kareem-abdul-jabbar-bill-waltonHarrison Faigen