1971–72 NBA season

The 1971–72 NBA season was the 26th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers winning the NBA Championship, beating the New York Knicks 4 games to 1 in the NBA Finals.

1971–72 NBA season
LeagueNational Basketball Association
SportBasketball
DurationOctober 12, 1971 – March 26, 1972
March 28–April 23, 1972 (Playoffs)
April 26–May 7, 1972 (Finals)
Number of games82
Number of teams17
TV partner(s)ABC
Draft
Top draft pickAustin Carr
Picked byCleveland Cavaliers
Regular season
Season MVPKareem Abdul-Jabbar (Milwaukee)
Top scorerKareem Abdul-Jabbar (Milwaukee)
Playoffs
Eastern championsNew York Knicks
  Eastern runners-upBoston Celtics
Western championsLos Angeles Lakers
  Western runners-upMilwaukee Bucks
Finals
ChampionsLos Angeles Lakers
  Runners-upNew York Knicks
Finals MVPWilt Chamberlain (L.A. Lakers)

As the 25th anniversary of the founding of the modern NBA, the league unveiled a new logo, inspired by the logo of Major League Baseball, to commemorate the occasion. It features the white silhouette of a basketball player dribbling, framed by red and blue. Jerry West of the Los Angeles Lakers was used as the model for the logo. Coincidentally, Jerry West would win the only NBA Championship of his career during the season.

Notable occurrences
  • The San Diego Rockets relocated to Houston, Texas and became the Houston Rockets.[1]
  • The San Francisco Warriors were renamed the Golden State Warriors and the team moved across the San Francisco Bay to Oakland.[1]
  • The 1972 NBA All-Star Game was played at the Forum in Inglewood, California, with the West beating the East 112–110. To the delight of the home crowd, Jerry West of the Lakers won the game's MVP award, making a basket at the buzzer to win the game.
  • The Lakers' 69 wins set a new record for most regular season wins in NBA history. This mark would stand for 24 seasons, until it was bettered by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.[1]
  • The Lakers' Elgin Baylor announced his retirement nine games into the season. That night, the Lakers began a winning streak that would last for two months, totaling 33 games. That streak still stands as the longest winning streak in the history of major American professional team sports.[1]
  • The current NBA logo, which features the silhouette of Jerry West, made its debut. The blue/red pattern was adopted from the Major League Baseball logo.
  • This was the first season the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers did not make the playoffs.
Coaching changes
Offseason
Team 1970–71 coach 1971–72 coach
Los Angeles Lakers Joe Mullaney Bill Sharman
San Diego/Houston Rockets Alex Hannum Tex Winter
In-season
Team Outgoing coach Incoming coach
Buffalo Braves Dolph Schayes Johnny McCarthy
Detroit Pistons Bill Van Breda Kolff
Terry Dischinger		 Earl Lloyd

Regular season

The Los Angeles Lakers came into the season returning a veteran squad from their playoff run a year before. Nine games into the season, aging and oft injured Elgin Baylor announced his retirement after 13 seasons. He was replaced at the starting small forward spot by Jim McMillian, who would go on to average 18 points per game, third best on the team. Despite Baylor's retirement, the Lakers went on a 33-game winning streak. The Lakers completed two undefeated months, going 14–0 in November and 16–0 in December. After winning their first three games in January, the Lakers lost 120–104 to the Milwaukee Bucks. On March 20, 1972, the Lakers beat Golden State by a record 63 points (162–99), a mark that would stand until 1991, when Cleveland beat Miami by 68 points (148–80). The Lakers finished the season with a record 69 wins, which would stand until the 1995–96 season when the Chicago Bulls won 72 regular season games.[1]

The defending champion Milwaukee Bucks won 63 games on the play of renamed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, formerly Lew Alcindor, and Oscar Robertson. The Celtics, led by second year center Dave Cowens, point guard Jo Jo White and 32-year-old swingman John Havlicek won the Atlantic Division with 56 wins. Boston had recovered from the retirement of Bill Russell, K. C. Jones and Sam Jones by winning 12 more games than the previous season.

Playoffs

In the first round, the Lakers swept the Bulls and Milwaukee defeated Golden State. New York eliminated the Bullets and Boston won against the Atlanta Hawks. In the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers lost game 1 versus the defending champion Bucks at The Forum 93–72, a game that saw the Lakers score only 8 points in the third quarter. However, the Lakers led by assist champion Jerry West, leading scorer Gail Goodrich and veteran Wilt Chamberlain would win 4 of the next 5 games and beat Milwaukee in six games. In the Eastern Conference Finals, New York defeated the top-seed Celtics in five games.[1]

In the NBA Finals, New York won game 1 very easily, but Los Angeles won game 2 106–92 to even the series. In game 3, the Lakers jumped out to a 22-point lead and regained home-court advantage with a 107–96 win. In game 4, the Knicks forced overtime. At the end of regulation, Wilt Chamberlain was called for his fifth foul. In his first 12 seasons, he had never fouled out of a game. Chamberlain did not foul out and led the Lakers to a 116–111 victory, but he broke his wrist in the overtime period. The Lakers held a 3–1 series lead going into game 5 in Los Angeles. In game 5, Chamberlain played despite his injury. The score was tied at 53 in the first half, but the Lakers outscored the Knicks 61–47 in the second half to win the game and the NBA Championship, 114–100.[1]

Notable trades
1971
 To Baltimore Bullets
Mike Riordan, Dave Stallworth, 1973 first-round pick, 1976 second-round and first-round picks		 To New York Knicks
Earl Monroe

Final standings

By division
Atlantic Division W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
y-Boston Celtics 5626.683–32–921–163–115–3
x-New York Knicks 4834.585827–1420–191–111–7
Philadelphia 76ers 3052.3662614–2314–262–36–12
Buffalo Braves 2260.2683413–278–311–24–14
Central Division W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
y-Baltimore Bullets 3844.463–18–1516–244–59–9
x-Atlanta Hawks 3646.439222–1913–261–19–9
Cincinnati Royals 3052.366820–188–322–211–9
Cleveland Cavaliers 2359.2801513–288–302–19–11
Midwest Division W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
y-Milwaukee Bucks 6319.768–31–527–125–213–5
x-Chicago Bulls 5725.695629–1226–122–112–6
Phoenix Suns 4933.5981430–1119–200–27–11
Detroit Pistons 2656.3173716–259–301–14–14
Pacific Division W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
y-Los Angeles Lakers 6913.841–36–531–72–121–3
x-Golden State Warriors 5131.6221827–821–203–314–10
Seattle SuperSonics 4735.5732228–1218–221–112–12
Houston Rockets 3448.4153515–2014–235–59–15
Portland Trail Blazers 1864.2205114–264–350–34–20

By conference
# Eastern Conference
Team W L PCT
1 z-Boston Celtics5626.683
2 y-Baltimore Bullets3844.463
3 x-New York Knicks4834.585
4 x-Atlanta Hawks3646.439
5 Philadelphia 76ers3052.366
5 Cincinnati Royals3052.366
7 Cleveland Cavaliers2359.280
8 Buffalo Braves2260.268
# Western Conference
Team W L PCT
1 z-Los Angeles Lakers6913.841
2 y-Milwaukee Bucks6319.768
3 x-Chicago Bulls5725.695
4 x-Golden State Warriors5131.622
5 Phoenix Suns4933.598
6 Seattle SuperSonics4735.573
7 Houston Rockets3448.415
8 Detroit Pistons2656.317
9 Portland Trail Blazers1864.220

Notes

  • z, y – division champions
  • x – clinched playoff spot

Playoff bracket
  Conference Semifinals Conference Finals NBA Finals
                           
  1 LA Lakers 4  
3 Chicago 0  
  1 LA Lakers 4  
Western Conference
    2 Milwaukee 2  
2 Milwaukee 4
  4 Golden State 1  
    W1 LA Lakers 4
  E3 New York 1
  1 Boston 4  
4 Atlanta 2  
1 Boston 1
Eastern Conference
    3 New York 4  
2 Baltimore 2
  3 New York 4  

Finals
GameDateWinnerScoreSite
Game 1April 26 (Wed.)New York Knicks114–92at Los Angeles
Game 2April 30 (Sun.)Los Angeles Lakers106–92at Los Angeles
Game 3May 3 (Wed.)Los Angeles Lakers107–96at New York
Game 4May 5 (Fri.)Los Angeles Lakers116–111at New York
Game 5May 7 (Sun.)Los Angeles Lakers114–100at Los Angeles

Lakers win series 4–1

Statistics leaders
CategoryPlayerTeamStat
Points per gameKareem Abdul-JabbarMilwaukee Bucks34.8
Rebounds per gameWilt ChamberlainLos Angeles Lakers19.2
Assists per gameJerry WestLos Angeles Lakers9.7
FG%Wilt ChamberlainLos Angeles Lakers.649
FT%Jack MarinBaltimore Bullets.894

NBA awards

Note: All information on this page were obtained on the History section on NBA.com or Basketball reference.com

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See also

References
  1. "NBA.com history". Retrieved 2009-06-24.
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