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A Lakers Blog. Thoughts, reflections, and the odd rant on the Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA (even the Clippers).

Thinking About Winning Streaks

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In case you forgot, the Lakers have now won 8 games in a row. But when I started to think about this streak – something I’ll touch on in a future post – I started to think about how 8 games pales in comparison to what some other teams have done. Especially the great 33 game streak of the 1971-72 team led by Jerry West and Wilt. So, take a trip with me down memory lane and enjoy an old school clip of how the Logo and Big Dipper got it done. Remember too that they accomplished the ultimate goal – a championship. So remember, let’s keep our eyes on the prize.


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Comments

  1. robinred says

    For those unaware, Charley Rosen wrote a book about the 71-72 Lakers, called The Pivotal Season. Phil Jackson wrote the foreword.

  2. Robert Fiore says

    The hell of this is, the way they commemorate the streak on ESPN Classic is to show the game that broke it.

  4. lesha says

    that was a great, great team…
    still remember when kobe and shaq cruised through the entire playoffs… that was powerful stuff aswell. iverson just went completly nuts the first game of the finals, otherwise it would´ve been a complete playoff sweep.

    i hope our guys can keep this up. the suns arent done yet, but they look very ready to give up. we all know that nash will try until the very end, but amare looks really down right now. i think that if we win game 3 we will get our sweep, but if we lose it, the series might go 6 games.

    do you guys think that boston will sweep the magic? seems to me that they really figured this team out. i said all year that you cant win a ring with vince on your team, but apparently rashard lewis is trying even less. its kind of sad to watch them fall apart like that, but it just proves that you cant win in the playoffs without reliable low-post scoring. thats why i see the celtics having problems if they should meet us. defending nash-amare is a good preparation for rondo-kg.

  7. 6philipd8 says

    Lakers in 5 over Boston. Give me those two teams in the LA Memorial Coliseum next year. NBA needs to play outside. Check out Champion Sports Views if you wish to read. They would sell out.

  8. kehn says

    /facepalm. This is from Bill Plashcke’s column today:

    “In the Phil Jackson era, the Lakers have won NBA titles after being challenged in conference finals, and blown them when they were not.

    In 2000, Portland pushed them into pounding Indiana. The next year, San Antonio shoved them into dominating Philadelphia. Then Sacramento whacked them into walking over New Jersey”

    Did he watch the same 4-0 sweep of San Antonio that I watched? Why does this guy still have a job?!

  9. needle says

    Bill Plaschke is the bogeyman. I simply stopped believing that he exists. And that’s all I have to do.

  10. Kenny says

    question about taking charges:
    does the defender have to fall in order for a charge tto be called? In the game vs. the Cavs, Shaq took 3-5 charges from Kobe, but there was a no-call each time, cuz Shaq barely moved. Is that why there is a no-call?

  11. Chris J says

    Plashcke’s a bigger tool than kehn’s point underscores because aside from today’s idiotic remarks on that Spurs series, he also wasn’t even correct on which season was which.

    Note the correction: For the record: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said 2001 instead of 2000.

    He had thought the Lakers beat the Pacers in 2001. How do you get that wrong?

    Then again, the new SI profile on Grant Hill begins with an anecdote about Hill watching Kobe Bryant play in 2003 and claims Kobe was on his was to a third consecutive title that season.

    I guess SI’s fact checkers took the day off too since we all know the Spurs knocked L.A. out of the playoffs in ’03, ending L.A.’s pursuit of the “Quatro,” as Mad Dog had dubbed it.

    Hell, Malcolm’s comments on the prior thread showed fans here have better knowledge of the Lakers than some of these so-called pro journalists.

    Malcolm’s point about the blown 24-second call at the end of game five in ’93 was dead-on. And as I remember it, that same play could have been called for offensive interference too. But the NBA wanted the Suns in the Finals that year, I guess — Barkley vs. MJ made for better TV.

    That was Worthy’s last playoff game.

  12. Cdog says

    In 1993 I would have been a grand total of 7 years old. I am pretty sure what happened then has no correlation to the series we are playing now.
    I am a little disconcerted that people are overlooking the suns, we still gotta win these games, and even though we have scored in the 120’s both games, our defense hasn’t exactly been up to snuff. In the 4th quarter of game 2 I guess it was ok, but for both games we still allowed 108 pt, and around 50% shooting. I know the Suns are a great offensive team, but holding a team to their league averages isn’t really what we should be aiming for. I would like to see that defense that we saw in the OKC series – or even for parts of the Utah series – where we just smother the Suns and make them unable to score, because if we get by these guys, we are going to need that defensive weapon locked and loaded in our arsenal for whoever comes out of the east.

  13. lesha says

    i think its harder to defend the suns than any other team in this league because they attack from so many angles and keep the ball moving all the time. while it is true that they are shooting a high percentage against us, i think that the shots that they are getting are not the shots that they prefer. at least i think that step-in midrange jumpers from grant hill are better for us than open 3pt shots and a scoring steve nash. our guys have done a great defensive job until now… lets hope they can keep it up.

    and as always: please no more injuries… PLEASE!!!

  14. Craig W. says

    For all those who think Bill Plashcke is a tool – why read his column? Are you masochists?

    I live in LA and I don’t read his column.

  15. exhelodrvr says

    Craig W,
    “For all those who think Bill Plashcke is a tool – why read his column?”

    Think about Shaq shooting free throws – you can’t help but look. It’s human nature.

  16. Snoopy2006 says

    There’s always new challenges. It’s very likely that Phoenix’s bench reemerges in a big way at home, and our bench doesn’t play quite as well (I highly doubt Farmar shoots 73% at Amway). So there’s a bigger challenge for our stars to raise their games even higher, and the defense to pick it up another notch. I think our team’s up to the challenge.

    Plaschke is an astounding idiot, to the point where many of us wonder why his job doesn’t involve shoveling manure.

  18. tsuwm says

    speaking of tools, I see that Hollinger’s Top Secret draft ratings are up and he has someone other than Wall (or Turner) on top?

  19. wondahbap says

    Real masochists read Simers. That’s painful. He’s easily 10 times worse than Plaschke. He thinks people care about his hatred for Phil.

  20. Don says

    Hollinger’s rankings

    1 DeMarcus Cousins Kentucky 16.14
    2. Evan Turner Ohio State 14.79
    3. John Wall Kentucky 14.68
    4. Greg Monroe Georgetown 14.39
    5. Derrick Favors Georgia Tech 13.98

  21. Jane says

    @4 lesha

    I don’t agree that defending Nash/Amare is necessarily good prep for defending Rondo/KG, specifically because of Rondo’s speed in transition (Nash doesn’t seem quite as fast consistently to me anymore) and that KG is way more physical than Amare. Some say that KG is all bravado, but the guy sure isn’t afraid to hit or be hit. That’s a far cry from Amare. Literally!

  22. Charles says

    21: I think that depends really. On D KG is definitely far more active than Apostrophe (all the Celtics bigs like to pretend they’re in a karate match down low to varying degrees), but I don’t think Amare fears contact on offense and is ridiculously good at finishing even if he’s hit. KG on the other hand has morphed into far more of a finesse player on offense; his jumper has become his main weapon and you’ll see him running pick-and-pops a lot, as well as relying heavily on a fadeaway when he posts.

    On D though Amare truly is just a terrible combination of clueless and lazy.

  23. tsuwm says

    1 DeMarcus Cousins Kentucky 16.14
    2. Evan Turner Ohio State 14.79
    3. John Wall Kentucky 14.68
    4. Greg Monroe Georgetown 14.39
    5. Derrick Favors Georgia Tech 13.98

    boy, howdy! is it typical for the top of the draft to be below 15 (the NBA average)?

  24. Chownoir says

    A while back I stopped clicking on any LA Times sports link if I couldn’t tell which article it led to. I got tired of it going to a Plaschke column. I absolutely refuse to read or listen to him. I believe in giving people chances but he used up all his with me years ago.

    The only time I catch anything from him these days is if someone quotes him.

    Here’s the funny part, a while ago, a close friend who knows nothing about sports gave me a his book as a gift. All she saw was the awards, LA Times background and thought I would enjoy it. Talk about using my best poker bluffing skills to thank her when I opened the gift up. LOL!

  27. Gr8 Scott says

    I’ll miss Collins. He may not have been the best and he may have alluded to his days with Jordan 3-4 times too many per game when covering our Lakers, but he always had a sense for the tempo of the game.

    As for Phoenix “preparing” us for Boston, I don’t really think this matters. Phoenix pushes the tempo, which gets our transition D, but they aren’t anywhere near as physical. That said, our guys will know what to expect and can simply watch game 6 of the 2008 Finals as a way to remind them of what needs to be done.

  28. lesha says

    @21 jane

    while you are right about the speed of rondo, he is not nearly the same shooter that nash is (this year, apparently nobody in the nba is). he is a very good point guard, but you also cant compare his court vision to nash´s.

    and honest to god, i think you cant really argue that amare is a better offensive player than kg at this point in his career. garnett has one effective move (mid-range step-back jumper) and sometimes hits a turnaround fadeaway from close distance, thats it. and even with those moves he seems to struggle at the moment (against the amazing defense of rashard lewis…)