YouTube Gold: Were The 1972 Lakers The Best Team In NBA History?

Could be. Or not.

Jerry West is well known as The Logo: he’s the guy the NBA based its logo on. He spent his entire career with the Los Angeles Lakers and after being paired with Elgin Baylor, who got there a couple of seasons ahead of West, the Lakers consistently made it to the NBA Finals - only to lose eight times to Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics.

Russell basically didn’t lose in the finals. Boston lost in 1957, when he was injured, and the Philadelphia 76ers had a superior team in 1966-67.

Basically though it was the Celtics and the Lakers and that rivalry revived in the 1980’s with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

L.A’s first title came in 1972. Baylor, who had had a lot of knee issues during his career, retired early in the season. When he stepped aside, Jim McMillian replaced him in the starting lineup and L.A. went on a 33-game winning streak, which is still an NBA record.

West and Wilt Chamberlain were the heart of the team and given how potent it was, you have to ask this question: was L.A. the greatest team of all time?

It’s always a tough question. Could they beat the 1986 Celtics? The 1995 Bulls? The 1977 Trailblazers?

We’ll never know, but this much is true: none of those teams had a center who could have contended with Chamberlain.