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.
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.
Regular season
The Los Angeles Lakers came into the season returning a strong squad from their playoff run a year before. Nine games into the season, Elgin Baylor announced his sudden retirement after 13 seasons. 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 Bucks at The Forum 93–72, but a Lakers squad led by assist champion Jerry West, leading scorer Gail Goodrich, and veteran Wilt Chamberlain 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
Final standings
By division
By conference
Notes
- z, y – division champions
- x – clinched playoff spot
Playoff bracket
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Conference Semifinals |
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Conference Finals |
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NBA Finals |
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1 |
L.A. Lakers |
4 |
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3 |
Chicago |
0 |
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1 |
L.A. Lakers |
4 |
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Western Conference |
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2 |
Milwaukee |
2 |
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2 |
Milwaukee |
4 |
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4 |
Golden State |
1 |
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W1 |
L.A. Lakers |
4 |
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E3 |
New York |
1 |
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1 |
Boston |
4 |
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4 |
Atlanta |
2 |
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1 |
Boston |
1 |
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Eastern Conference |
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3 |
New York |
4 |
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2 |
Baltimore |
2 |
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3 |
New York |
4 |
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Finals
| Game | Date | Winner | Score | Site |
| Game 1 | April 26 (Wed.) | New York Knicks | 114-92 | at Los Angeles |
| Game 2 | April 30 (Sun.) | Los Angeles Lakers | 106-92 | at Los Angeles |
| Game 3 | May 3 (Wed.) | Los Angeles Lakers | 107-96 | at New York |
| Game 4 | May 5 (Fri.) | Los Angeles Lakers | 116-111 | at New York |
| Game 5 | May 7 (Sun.) | Los Angeles Lakers | 114-100 | at Los Angeles |
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Lakers win series 4-1
Statistics leaders
NBA awards
Note: All information on this page were obtained on the History section on NBA.com or Basketball reference.com
References
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