During the winning streak, Los Angeles Lakers won 17 games at home and 16 games on the road.
Exactly 53 years ago, the Los Angeles Lakers set a historical milestone in the NBA by beating the Atlanta Hawks 134-90. The Lakers won their 33rd straight game to set a record of longest winning streak in major professional sports.
The Purple and Gold had a dominant era in the 70s and the flag barrier of the dominance was the captain Wilt Chamberlain, who was playing in his penultimate season. Chamberlain scored 15 points and grabbed 20 rebounds to lead the Lakers to a record win.
”We just finished a streak that I don’t believe any other team is going to break,” Lakers forward Jim McMillian said about the game. McMillian dropped six double-doubles for the side during the winning streak.
Lakers remained unbeaten for 65 days in the 1971-1972 season and this record set a standard in professional sports. It’s highly impossible to break this record in modern sports.
Gail Goodrich and Jerry West combined to score over 52 points per game this season and Lakers set a history. Los Angeles side finished with a 69-13 record in the regular season. Lakers beat Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks in the playoffs to set a date with New York Knicks in NBA Finals. Chamberlain’s motivated group beat the Knicks 4-1 to win the franchise’s first NBA title since 1954.
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Here are some more facts about Lakers’ historic winning streak and a memorable season in 1971-72:
During the winning streak, Los Angeles Lakers won 17 games at home and 16 games on the road. Lakers had 4 wins against Super Sonics, most against any team. They beat Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers three times in the streak.
Lakers beat 15 different teams during the 33-game winning streak. Apart from above mentioned teams, they beat Braves, Bullets, Cavaliers, Hawks and Suns twice in the process. Bucks, Bulls, Knicks and Pistons are the sides who were beaten only once.
Out of 33 wins, Lakers’ winning margin was in double-figure 24 times. The most surprising fact is not a single player produced a triple-double in the winning streak.
The captain led from the front for the Lakers as Chamberlain had 16 double-double in the winning streak including the last one against Atlanta Hawks on Jan 07, 1972. Jerry West also had 16 double-double and Hairston added 12 double-double. The former passed away last year at the age of 82.
Here is the list of vital numbers from the key players:
Lakers’ winning streak started on Nov. 5, 1971 when they beat Bullets 110-106. Their biggest win in the streak was against the 76ers when they beat Philadelphia 143-103. Phoenix Suns came close to end the winning streak on Dec 10 as they took the game into overtime but Lakers held the nerves to win the game.
Milwaukee Bucks ended the NBA’s longest ever winning streak of 33 matches on Jan. 09, 1972. Bucks overcame the Lakers 120-104. The NBA legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored a game-high 39 points and grabbed 20 rebounds for the Bucks. Lakers avenged the loss after beating the same opponent in the NBA playoffs.
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