Mavs’ Run Recalls Brilliance of ’72 Lakers
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Thirty-five years ago this week, the Los Angeles Lakers’ storied 33-game winning streak — perhaps the greatest single-season team feat in American sports — came to a crashing halt with a 120–104 defeat in Milwaukee. This year’s Mavericks are on a tear, having won 28 of their last 32 games — the best streak since the 72–10 ’96 Bulls reeled off 31 victories in 32 games. Their respective runs suggest that a closer look at the 1972 Lakers is warranted.
Los Angeles benefited from a confluence of circumstances that abetted the Lakers’ winning streak that year. For one, a roster that included four future Hall of Famers — Wilt Chamberlain, who was winding down a brilliant career; Jerry West; Gail Goodrich, and Elgin Baylor, who retired early in the season (Pat Riley’s near-certain future induction will make it five, though his standing is based almost entirely on his coaching). The Lakers were a guard-driven team: Goodrich (25.9 ppg) and West (25.8) led the scoring, as teams packed the middle to keep the still potent Wilt from getting easy hoops. Chamberlain averaged only 14.8 points per game but contributed 19.2 boards per contest. Small forward Jim McMillan, a Brooklyn native and standout at Thomas Jefferson High School and Columbia University, added 18.8 ppg, while Happy Hairston added 13.1 boards.
The Lakers were an offensive juggernaut, averaging 121 points per game, five more than Phoenix, the second best offense, and 11 more than the league average. And with Wilt in the middle, they were a sound defensive team, finishing sixth in points allowed.
Being ranked first in offense and sixth in defense isn’t usually a recipe for a team of historic significance, but 1972 was an unusual year. The league had expanded aggressively during the late 1960s and early ’70s, going from 10 teams in the 1967 season to 16 in 1972. Factor in the 11 teams in the American Basketball Association, which began play in ’67, and you have a particularly diluted talent pool. The Lakers, with a bevy of established talent and a deep bench, were able to capitalize on this environment. Nor were they only ones; the 1972 NBA was a highly stratified league. In the Eastern Conference, only the Knicks and the Celtics topped .500. Twentyeight of the Lakers’ 33 consecutive victims were either recent expansion teams or Eastern Conference teams with losing records. Also, the Lakers had an unusually good run of health, losing only West for five games during the regular season.
The streak had the additional (and now bygone) advantage of taking place mostly under the radar. The streak began on November 5, but was soon overshadowed by the hubbub over one of the most celebrated college football games of the 20th century, one that actually lived up to the billing — no. 1 Nebraska’s 35–31 triumph over no. 2 Oklahoma — as well by as the playoff run of the Dallas Cowboys, who had been perennial runners-up prior to 1972. Basketball typically didn’t get the limited spotlight shone on sports until after the Super Bowl was played each season. These days, a team can expect SportsCenter updates for every game that exceeds a winning streak of 20.
Could it ever happen again?
It isn’t likely. The league is now made up of 30 teams and unlikely to expand by levels that would match the growth in the late ’60s when pro basketball went from one 10-team circuit to a twoleague affair of 27 squads. Also, the salary cap makes it unlikely that a team will have three HoFers on its roster at once. The ’96 Bulls capitalized during a similar expansion: The Raptors and Grizzlies entered the league that season and benefited from a stratified league in which eight teams lost 52 or more games. This season’s Mavs have feasted on teams suffering from the loss of key players to injuries, and had the advantage in a league in which Western Conference teams have landed on the right side of an extraordinary imbalance of talent and savvy management. Yet neither those Bulls nor these Mavs could match the Lakers’ feat.
It should be noted that the Lakers were a one-year phenomenon built to capitalize on the late primes of Chamberlain and West. The team went 69–13 and won the title in ’72. The following year the team lost to the Knicks in the finals, and then age caught up to the Lakers’ stars. The league’s downtrodden clubs, aided by the arrival of players like Bob Lanier and Bob McAdoo, narrowed the gap. By 1975, the Lakers were out of the playoff picture. It’s a good reminder for those who decry the extreme imbalance this season; these things tend to level out quickly.
