About the Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are on of the most successful and storied franchises in all of sports.  The Los Angeles Lakers were one of the first teams to join the NBA in 1949.  Originally the Minneapolis Lakers, the Los Angeles Lakers own over 14 NBA Championship trophies and have made it to the NBA Finals more than 27 times.

The Los Angeles Lakers won basketball championships in 1948 and 1949 in the National Basketball League and the Basketball Association of America, respectively.  Once the Los Angeles Lakers joined the newly formed NBA, they remained a powerhouse team.  In the first five years of the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers won four championships.  Rule changes and losses to key players let to the Los Angeles Lakers worst season in team history, finishing with a 19-53 record. 

With the drafting of Elgin Baylor in 1958, the Los Angeles Lakers bounced right back into the playoff picture.  Baylor won Rookie of the year honors and helped the Los Angeles Lakers get to the NBA Finals in the 1958-1959 season.  While they lost to the Boston Celtics in four games, the Los Angeles Lakers would make a statement that told other teams that they could not be kept down for long. 

The Los Angeles Lakers of the 1960's were a dominant force and a road block for any team in the west that wanted to play for a championship.  With Baylor, and draft pick Jerry West, the Los Angeles Lakers made it to the NBA Finals eight times in the 1960's, only to be defeated each time by now arch rival Boston Celtics.  In the 1969 NBA Finals Jerry West owns the only Finals MVP trophy from a loosing team.

The Los Angeles Lakers would finally have their day in 1972 when they defeated the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals.  Behind West and Wilt Chamberlain the Los Angeles Lakers won 33 consecutive games in the 1971-1972 season, a mark that still stands.

After a few successful seasons the Los Angeles Lakers drafted Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the mid seventies.  Together they created one of the most dominant duo's in NBA history, winning five championships in an eight year span.  This was also the time that Pat Riley was the hottest coach in the NBA.

In the 1990's the Lakers remained a good team behind Riley, Guard Nick Van Exel and Center Vlade Divac.  Failing to make it to the NBA Finals for 6 consecutive years must have lit a fire underneath the front office as they acquired Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.  As two of the most talented players in the league, the Los Angeles Lakers still failed to win an NBA Championship, that is until the Los Angeles Lakers hired head coach Phil Jackson.  Jackson coached the Chicago Bulls of the 1990's to six NBA Finals championship.  With the nucleus of Bryant and Shaq, Jackson was able to coach the Los Angeles Lakers to three consecutive championships from 1999-2002, including a four game sweep of the New Jersey Nets.