Elgin Baylor's Underappreciated Greatness
you had
to see
Baylor
before
his knees went
how
he could
dance
"Elgin Baylor" by Mark Shechner
My earliest memory of getting some small sense of Elgin Baylor's greatness is not of a highlight or of a statistic, but of a free verse poem by Mark Shechner published in Daniel Rudman's 1980 anthology Take It to the Hoop. The final lines of that poem are the epigraph to this tribute to Baylor, the basketball icon who passed away on Monday at the age of 86. Shechner's poem is at once laudatory but also filled with lament both at what could have been for Baylor, and what was missed by those who did not see Baylor before his knees went.
Baylor is not only one of the most significant figures in basketball history, but he is on the short list of the greatest players in basketball history. Baylor played a major role in the Lakers' successful transition from Minneapolis to L.A., and he set a standard of play matched by few others. Baylor is the first player who scored at least 70 points in an NBA game, and his 71 point explosion on November 15, 1960 stood as the Lakers' single game record until Kobe Bryant erupted for 81 points.
For a time, Baylor simultaneously held the NBA records for most points scored in a regular season game, most points scored in a playoff game, and most points scored in one half of a playoff game. Those marks have since been broken, but they are now held by three different players as opposed to being in one player's figurative trophy case. In 1962-63, Baylor became the first NBA player to finish in the top five in four different statistical categories (scoring, rebounding, assists, and free throw percentage). There is an unfortunate tendency to depict high flying, artistic players as one dimensional, but the reality is that Baylor, Connie Hawkins, and Julius Erving--perhaps the three players who did the most to literally and figuratively elevate the game--were great all-around players.
Baylor's greatness is not recognized widely enough today, which also means that comparisons to Baylor are not well understood: when informed basketball observers in the early to mid 1970s favorably compared Erving to Baylor, that meant something deep that is not appreciated now--but the point of this tribute is not to rank Baylor or Erving or anyone else, but to emphasize that any informed discussion about the greatest basketball players of all-time must place Baylor on the short list.
A few uninformed readers questioned why I included Baylor in my pro basketball Pantheon. There is no doubt that Baylor belonged--and still belongs--in the Pantheon. My only concern about discussing Baylor was that I gave full credit to his greatness despite not having firsthand knowledge of his game. Any serious basketball scholar who researches NBA history and NBA records understands Baylor's importance (just one example: Baylor, Chamberlain, and Bryant are the only players to score at least 45 points in at least four straight games).
A credible case can be made that Baylor's peak value is as high as that of any basketball player ever, as I discussed a few years ago:
PRO: First rate scorer, rebounder and passer who ranks third in career
regular season scoring average (27.4 ppg) and 10th in career regular
season rebounding average (13.5 rpg) and who finished in the top 10 in
assists four times. Baylor possessed elite athletic skills and is the
prototype for the modern small forward. During his first seven seasons
before suffering a serious knee injury, Baylor posted the most dominant
points/rebounds/assists numbers of any forward in pro basketball
history. Only three pro basketball players averaged at least 24 ppg, 10
rpg and 4 apg overall
during their first seven seasons: Baylor (30.2 ppg, 15.4 rpg, 4.3 apg),
Abdul-Jabbar (30.0 ppg, 15.6 rpg, 4.4 apg) and Erving (26.6 ppg, 10.8
rpg, 4.5 apg). In five of his first seven seasons Baylor averaged at
least 24 ppg, at least 10 rpg and at least 4 apg; Abdul-Jabbar reached
those levels in six of his first seven seasons, Erving did so in four of
his first seven seasons, Robertson accomplished this in three of his
first seven seasons and no other player in pro basketball history did it
more than twice.
CON: Injuries hampered the second half of Baylor's career. Baylor never
won a
championship despite playing most of his career alongside West, another
greatest player of
all-time candidate. Baylor was not an elite defensive player. The
1971-72 Lakers went on a record 33 game regular season winning streak
right after Baylor retired early in that season, en route to posting a
then-record 69 victories before capturing the championship that had
eluded Baylor and West for so long.
ANALYSIS: Baylor's body had broken down by 1971, so it is not fair to
suggest that his retirement was the missing link to the Lakers' success.
Baylor's peak value is as high as any other player's, but ultimately
his lack of durability and his failure to win a championship make it
difficult to rank him ahead of every player in pro basketball history.
Although Baylor never played on a championship team, it would not be fair to say that was his fault, nor would it be fair to say that the lack of a championship defines Baylor's overall legacy or even his playoff legacy. Baylor was the first NBA player who regularly scored 30-plus points in playoff games:
Elgin Baylor is on the short list of the most dominant playoff scorers
in pro basketball history. He was the first player who made 30 point
playoff games seem routine and automatic. He scored at least 30 points
in seven out of 13 playoff games in 1959, six out of nine in 1960
(including three games with at least 40 points), 10 out of 12 in 1961
(including five games with at least 40 points), 12 out of 13 in 1962
(including three games with at least 40 points, topped off by the single
game playoff record 61 points that stood until Jordan scored 63 points
in a 1986 playoff game), 10 out of 13 in 1963 (including one game with
at least 40 points) and five out of 14 in 1966 (including two games with
at least 40 points). Baylor started having knee problems in the early
to mid 1960s, he suffered a serious knee injury in 1965 and he played
the second part of his career at a fraction of his previous physical
capabilities, but he still earned three of his 10 All-NBA First Team
selections after wrecking his knee. No playoff performer has had a
sustained five year run of consistent 30 point performances like the one
that Baylor had from 1959-63. Baylor's Lakers made it to eight NBA
Finals during his career (he only played in seven Finals, missing the
1965 Finals due to his knee injury) but he never led the Lakers to a
championship; he retired after nine games in the 1971-72 season due to
his knee problems and that turned out to be the year that the Lakers won
their first title as an L.A. based team.
After Baylor's passing, Jerry West, the other half of the Lakers' devastating one-two punch with Baylor during the 1960s, issued a statement that read in part, "I will forever cherish my days spent with him as a teammate, he was one of the most gifted and special players that this game will ever see and he has never gotten his just due for what he accomplished on the court."
Labels: Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, L.A. Lakers, Minneapolis Lakers, Pantheon series
posted by David Friedman @ 2:42 AM
Not Exactly the Wonder Five: Pro Basketball's Worst Finalists
This article was originally published in the Summer 2003 issue of Basketball Digest
, though the editor changed the title to "Lacking Lakers"; fortunately, he did not alter the text of the article. Writers do not generally get to choose the titles of their articles, so I suppose I should not complain, but in this case--just like my article about pro basketball's greatest ball hawks--I don't understand why the editor selected a title that is less descriptive than the one that I originally used.
I also wrote about this subject for NBCSports.com in 2006.The Wonder Five sounds like a Motown act or a group of superheroes but basketball fans remember that it was the nickname of the 1976-77 Philadelphia 76ers, featuring All-Stars Julius Erving, George McGinnis and Doug Collins. This talent-laden team took a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals before Bill Walton's Portland Trail Blazers reeled off four straight wins to claim the championship.
While the Wonder Five failed to capture the ultimate prize, the 76ers enjoyed a very successful season. Their 50-32 record was the best in the Eastern Conference, their 4.0 ppg differential was more than respectable and they beat the defending champion Boston Celtics in the playoffs. The 76ers were clearly a worthy Finals participant, but for some NBA and ABA Finalists Wonder Five would not be a description but a question, as in, "I wonder how these five players made it here?" Thirteen Finals losers had a regular season winning percentage below .550; three of these teams made it to the championship round despite a sub-.500 record.
The 2001-02 New Jersey Nets are not on this list but some observers have called the Nets one of the worst teams to make it to the NBA Finals, citing the generally acknowledged weakness of the Eastern Conference and the fact that the Lakers easily swept the Nets. The unspoken part of this argument is that the Nets have been so putrid for so long that it is hard to believe that they are really good. Also, while Jason Kidd emerged as a legitimate MVP candidate, no Net averaged more than 15 ppg in the regular season, adding to the "who are these guys?" stigma which stuck to the team.
However, the statistics clearly show that the Nets were the class of the Eastern Conference in 2001-02, owning the best record (52-30) and the best ppg differential (4.2 ppg). The 2002 Nets won two more games than the celebrated Wonder Five and posted a slightly better ppg differential. A skeptic could argue that the Eastern Conference was stronger in 1976-77 than in 2001-02 but it's not like the elite Western teams dominated New Jersey during the regular season. The Nets went 4-4 against the West's top four teams (1-1 versus the Sacramento Kings, 2-0 versus the San Antonio Spurs, 1-1 versus the Lakers and 0-2 versus the Dallas Mavericks). Based on a complete season's body of work the Nets do not look like such a horrible Finals team historically.
As for being swept in the Finals, this alone does not demonstrate that a team is one of the worst in Finals history. The extreme example that proves this point happened in 1988-89. The two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers raced through the Western Conference playoffs with an 11-0 record only to be swept by the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals after Laker starting guards Magic Johnson and Byron Scott suffered injuries. While the 2001-02 Nets were not stricken with comparable injury setbacks, it is still difficult to compare various Finals losers based solely on their Finals' performances without taking into account the strength of the winning teams from each of those seasons. The 2001-02 Lakers would probably have swept a lot of the teams that made the Finals over the years.
The 1958-59 Minneapolis Lakers are the best candidate for the dubious distinction of worst Finals team ever. Their 33-39 record is the worst of any Finalist and their –1.3 ppg differential is easily the poorest of any Finals participant. The Lakers finished 16 games behind the defending champion St. Louis Hawks in the Western Division. Minneapolis had Rookie of the Year Elgin Baylor (who also made the All-NBA First Team) and not much else. Amazingly, the Lakers dispatched the Hawks 4-2 in the Western Division Finals before bowing to Bill Russell's Celtics 4-0 in the NBA Finals.
While too much should not be made of the mere fact of being swept, the Lakers were not only the first team to be swept in the NBA Finals but also the only one to suffer this fate between 1947 and 1971. The team plummeted to 25-50 in 1959-60 and even the arrival of future Hall of Famer Jerry West in 1960-61 only lifted the Lakers to 36-43.
In 1956-57 the St. Louis Hawks became the first team to make it to the Finals despite a sub-.500 record. That season each of the East's four teams had at least a .500 record and all four of the West's teams were below .500; the Ft. Wayne Pistons, the Lakers and the Hawks each went 34-38 but St. Louis emerged from the Western playoffs to face Boston in the Finals. Surprisingly, the Hawks extended the Celtics to seven games before rookie Bill Russell and company claimed the first of 11 championships in 13 years. The Hawks improved to 41-31 in 1957-58 and upset the Celtics in the Finals; Russell was hobbled with a sprained ankle.
The 1980-81 Houston Rockets are the third and last of the sub-.500 Finalists. Led by rebounding champion Moses Malone and aging but still potent guard Calvin Murphy, the Rockets shocked the defending champion Lakers 2-1 in a first round mini-series; Magic Johnson had missed more than half the season with a knee injury and shot only .388 from the field in the three playoff games. After beating a tough San Antonio Spurs team the Rockets caught a break when the upstart Kansas City Kings upset the Phoenix Suns, whose 57-25 record topped the Western Conference. Houston smashed the Kings 4-1 in the Western Conference Finals.
When the Rockets squared off against Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics in the Finals, an unimpressed Malone declared that he and four guys from his hometown of Petersburg, Virginia could beat Boston. Looking at Houston's 1981 roster, maybe he meant that he and four guys off the street could beat the remainder of the Rockets' squad. In any case, Malone's Rockets lost to the Celtics in six games.
The 1969-70 Los Angeles Stars had the worst record (43-41, .512) and worst ppg differential (-.2 ppg) of any ABA Finalist. Prior to the season the Stars signed veteran center Zelmo Beaty away from the Atlanta Hawks, but—like Rick Barry before him—he had to sit out his option year before jumping leagues. Meanwhile, the immortal Craig Raymond averaged a double-double at center and speedy guard Mack Calvin contributed 23.1 ppg and 5.9 apg during the team's improbable playoff run. Coach Bill Sharman's crew upset superstar rookie Spencer Haywood (36.7 ppg and 19.8 rpg in the playoffs) and the Western Division champion Denver Rockets before succumbing 4-2 to the powerful Indiana Pacers in the ABA Finals.
Like the 1956-57 Hawks, the Stars won a championship the year after their unlikely trip to the Finals. In 1970-71 the Stars moved to Los Angeles and went from Cinderella to powerhouse. With Beaty at center and new additions Ron Boone and Glen Combs in the backcourt the Stars won 57 games. In 1971-72 Coach Sharman enjoyed an even greater season, guiding the Lakers to a record 33 game winning streak en route to a then record 69 regular season victories and an NBA title. Sharman and Alex Hannum are the only coaches to win titles in both leagues; Hannum won his first NBA title with the aforementioned Hawks.
Is it possible for a team to win a championship but still be one of the worst Finals teams? In general this is a difficult proposition to accept—if a team scraps its way to a championship despite a mediocre record it deserves the benefit of the doubt that it would defeat most of the Finalists from other seasons that failed to win a title. In any case, only one NBA or ABA championship team had a winning percentage less than .550—the 1977-78 Washington Bullets posted a 44-38 record (.537) and a + .9 ppg differential. That team had two Hall of Famers (Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld) and made a return trip to the Finals the next year. The Bullets were certainly not one of the greatest championship teams but cannot be seriously considered to be worse than sub-.500 and barely .500 teams that lost in the Finals.
Another championship team with a relatively mediocre record is the 1994-95 Rockets. Houston went 47-35 (.573) but beat the teams with the three best records in the league to make it to the Finals and then swept the Shaquille O'Neal-Penny Hardaway Orlando Magic. That type of performance during the claiming of back-to-back championships certainly does not belong on the list of worst Finals teams. Rick Barry's 1974-75 Golden State Warriors are remembered as one of the more surprising NBA champions. Their sweep of a 60-22 Bullets' team was shocking but the Warriors did have the best record in the Western Conference (48-34). The Warriors, like the Bullets, are not among the great championship teams but also do not deserve to be lumped in with the worst Finalists.
Selecting the best of the best will always spark controversy: Wilt or Russell (or Shaq), Bird or Magic (or Jordan), Celtic Dynasty or the Running of the Bulls (or the Shaq-Kobe Lakers if they pull off the "four-peat"). However, it is doubtful that another team with a .458 record (roughly equal to 38 wins in an 82 game season) and –1.3 ppg differential will appear again in the NBA Finals. The 1958-59 Minneapolis Lakers are quite safe in their perch as the worst Finalists ever.
Note: the following list of the NBA/ABA Finalists with the worst regular season winning percentages accompanied the original article and thus was compiled prior to the completion of the 2002-03 NBA season. | Season | Team | Record/Win % | PPG Diff. |
|
|
|
|
| 1958-59 | Minneapolis Lakers | 33-39/.458 | -1.3 PPG |
| 1956-57 | St. Louis Hawks | 34-38/.472 | -.1 PPG |
| 1980-81 | Houston Rockets | 40-42/.488 | +.4 PPG |
| 1969-70 | Los Angeles Stars (ABA) | 43-41/.511905 | -.2 PPG |
| 1970-71 | Baltimore Bullets | 42-40/.512195 | +.6 PPG |
| 1975-76 | Phoenix Suns | 42-40/.512195 | +.6 PPG |
| 1955-56 | Ft. Wayne Pistons | 37-35/.514 | +.7 PPG |
| 1970-71 | Kentucky Colonels (ABA) | 44-40/.524 | +.1 PPG |
| 1971-72 | New York Nets (ABA) | 44-40/.524 | +.4 PPG |
| 1974-75 | Indiana Pacers (ABA) | 45-39/.536 | +1.1 PPG |
| 1998-99 | New York Knicks | 27-23/.540 | +1.0 PPG |
| 1966-67 | San Francisco Warriors | 44-37/.543 | +2.9 PPG |
| 1950-51 | New York Knicks | 36-30/.545 | +.4 PPG |
Labels: Baltimore Bullets, Houston Rockets, L.A. Stars, Minneapolis Lakers, St. Louis Hawks
posted by David Friedman @ 1:04 AM
Champions Club: Pro Basketball's Dynasties by the Numbers
This article was originally published in the May 2003 issue of Basketball Digest.Last year, five-time NBA champion Magic Johnson and two-time NBA champion Kenny Smith needled fellow TNT basketball analyst Charles Barkley by transforming the network's studio into a faux "champions club" that only admits people who have won championship rings. Of course, this meant that Sir Charles, Lord of the Ringless, could not come in, while such notables as Fennis Dembo and Jack Haley were members with privileges.
However, there is another "Champions Club" that is so exclusive that even Magic Johnson and Kenny Smith would not find their names on the VIP list. This club consists of teams that have won at least three straight titles: George Mikan's Lakers, Bill Russell's Celtics, Michael Jordan's Bulls and Shaquille O'Neal's Lakers.
Mikan, the Minneapolis Lakers' 6-10, 245 pound Hall of Fame center, was voted the greatest player of the first half of the twentieth century. He led the Lakers to five championships in a six-year period, including the NBA's first "three-peat" from 1951-52--1953-54. While Mikan was the dominant force on those teams, he also had some outstanding teammates--forwards Jim Pollard and Vern Mikkelson and guard Slater Martin are also in the Hall of Fame, as is Coach John Kundla. Another Hall of Famer, Clyde Lovellette, was a rookie contributor for the 1953-54 titlists and eventually succeeded Mikan as the team's center.
The Lakers' status as the NBA's first dominant team is unquestioned. If Mikan had not suffered a hairline ankle fracture before the 1950-51 playoffs the Lakers would likely have won six straight championships. How they would have fared against the great teams of subsequent decades is much more difficult to assess; they literally played under a different set of rules. Before the 1951-52 season the NBA widened the lane from six feet to 12 feet to counteract Mikan's dominance. This change cost Mikan the scoring title (his average dropped from 28.4 ppg to 23.8 ppg) but it did not stop the Lakers as a team. They adjusted by improving their outside shooting and also by flashing cutters through the wide-open lane. In 1964-65 the NBA widened the lane again, this time to 16 feet (its current size) in response to the amazing scoring prowess of Wilt Chamberlain.
Before the 1954-55 season the NBA made its most dramatic rules change, the introduction of the 24-second shot clock. This eliminated stalling and made it tougher for the Lakers to simply wear down teams in the half-court. Mikan retired before that season and his unsuccessful comeback in 1955-56 (10.5 ppg in 37 games) suggests that he struggled once the league sped up the game. The Lakers adapted admirably to the initial widening of the lane, but the temptation is to take one look at the old black and white films and dismiss the notion that Mikan's teams could compete with the modern NBA champions. That may be a hasty judgment. While the Lakers did not display many flashy moves and preferred a half-court style to take advantage of Mikan in the post, the team possessed plenty of athleticism. "All of us could dunk except Slater Martin," noted Mikkelson. "But we weren't allowed to much, because Kundla wouldn't let us. It was frowned on as hotdogging."
Mikan's "three-peat" Lakers posted worse winning percentages in both the regular season and Finals than the other teams that won at least three consecutive championships. Pro-rated to an 82 game season, their .644 winning percentage equals about 53 wins per year, while the other dynasties won at a .736 clip or better (equivalent to more than 60 wins in an 82 game season). This does not prove who would win a hypothetical head-to-head match-up, but it suggests that the Lakers did not dominate their era as convincingly as the other dynasties did. Some of this may be explained away by the inherent competitiveness of the league, which had not been diluted by expansion and had less than a third as many franchises as today's NBA. On the other hand, the 1950s NBA did not draw upon the deep worldwide talent pool that feeds the modern NBA.
The NBA did not have to wait long after Mikan's retirement for the next dynasty to emerge. The Boston Celtics were a solid playoff team during most of the 1950s but they instantly became a powerhouse in 1956-57 with the arrival of Bill Russell, a 6-10, 220 pound rebounding and shot-blocking wunderkind. Russell provided strength in the paint and accelerated the Celtics' already potent fast-break offense; now the forwards could leak out early, confident that Russell would deny the opponent's forays into the paint, corral the rebound and fire the outlet pass to Hall of Fame point guard Bob Cousy.
Like Mikan, Russell was blessed to have a Hall of Fame Coach in Red Auerbach and several Hall of Fame teammates: Cousy, his backcourt mate Bill Sharman, 1957 Rookie of the Year Tom Heinsohn (Russell played only 48 games, joining the team after the 1956 Olympics) and pioneering sixth man Frank Ramsey. This group won Boston's first NBA title in 1957. Boston's chances for a repeat performance took a major hit when Russell suffered an ankle injury in the 1958 Finals. With Russell hobbled, Bob Pettit scored 50 points in game six as the St. Louis Hawks took the championship. "You can always look for excuses. We just got beat," declared Auerbach.
In any case, the Celtics proceeded to win the next eight championships. Along the way more Hall of Famers joined the squad, including Sam Jones, K.C. Jones and John Havlicek--but Russell was the one constant throughout the unparalleled string of titles. It took one of the greatest teams in NBA history--the 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers led by Chamberlain--to snap the streak and the Celtics recovered from that setback to win the next two championships before Russell retired.
Russell's Celtics do not hold records for point differential or winning percentage. They were pushed to the seventh game of the NBA Finals three times during their "eight-peat" and also survived several seventh game showdowns in the Eastern Division Finals. The Celtics' dominance is defined by their relentless, single-minded accumulation of championship hardware. Bill Russell has a championship ring for each finger, plus a ring to spare--what more needs to be said?
After Russell left the scene the NBA did not have a repeat champion for almost 20 years. It seemed that free agency and the addition of more rounds to the playoffs made back-to-back titlists an outdated concept. Then, L.A. Lakers' Coach Pat Riley guaranteed a repeat during the Lakers' 1987 championship celebration and the team made good on his promise, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar playfully stuffing a towel in Riley's mouth before he could predict a third straight triumph. In fact, the Lakers came close to the "three-peat," going 11-0 in the 1989 playoffs before being swept in the Finals by Isiah Thomas' Detroit Pistons. The Pistons repeated in 1990 but their "three-peat" dreams were derailed by Jordan's Bulls.
The 1991-1993 Bulls became the first NBA team to win three straight titles since Russell's Celtics. The Houston Rockets claimed back-to-back championships during Jordan's foray into minor-league baseball and then the Bulls accomplished a second "three-peat" in 1996-1998 after Jordan returned to hoops. The two Chicago "three-peats" shared three constants--Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Coach Phil Jackson--but are distinct in many ways.
The first team was young and frisky, athletically trapping all over the court and showcasing Jordan and Pippen at their high-flying best. Pippen ran the offense as a "point-forward," while nominal point guards John Paxson and B.J. Armstrong provided long-range marksmanship. Power forward Horace Grant was athletic enough to trap guards in the backcourt and recover to pick up his man in the frontcourt.
The second team replaced power forward Horace Grant with rebounding savant Dennis Rodman. Sixth man Toni Kukoc provided scoring punch, while Ron Harper added size in the backcourt. Jordan and Pippen were not quite as athletic and the team frequently won as much on savvy and will as anything else.
When Jerry Krause broke up the Chicago Bulls to begin what columnist Jay Mariotti derisively calls the "Organizations Win Championships Tour," Jordan, Pippen and Jackson went their separate ways. Jackson took a one-season sabbatical before resurfacing in Los Angeles. Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant have chafed at times when Jackson upbraids them, but there is no arguing with the results: three titles in three years.
Numerologists may find some significance in the fact that each of Jackson's "three-peat" units posted 45-13 records in the playoffs. Basketball historians single out a different number: 15-1, the Lakers' record setting playoff won-loss record in the 2001 title run. There is a perception that the Lakers coast during the regular season and "turn it on" in the playoffs, but the Lakers' .736 regular season winning percentage matches Russell's Celtics and is just slightly worse than the 1991-93 Bulls.
This year the Lakers have fought an uphill battle just to earn a playoff berth, but that is primarily because of O'Neal's health, not coasting. Despite their ups and downs, they are the proverbial team that no one wants to face in the postseason. If the Lakers find the wherewithal to sustain one more title run, they will become the only team other than Russell's Celtics to win at least four consecutive NBA championships and Jackson will claim his tenth title as a coach, breaking his tie with Auerbach. Add that to Jackson's ring as a player on the 1973 Knicks and he would join Russell in the ultimate "Champions Club": no admittance without 11 rings.
Champions Club | Years | Team | Reg. Season | Playoffs | NBA Finals |
|
|
|
|
|
| 1952-54 | Min. Lakers | 134-74/.644 | 27-11/.711 | 12-7/.632 |
| 1959-66 | Bos. Celtics | 461-165/.736 | 67-33/.670 | 32-14/.696 |
| 1991-93 | Chi. Bulls | 185-61/.752 | 45-13/.776 | 12-5/.706 |
| 1996-98 | Chi. Bulls | 203-43/.825 | 45-13/.776 | 12-6/.667 |
| 2000-02 | L.A. Lakers | 181-65/.736 | 45-13/.776 | 12-3/.800 |
Labels: Bill Russell, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, George Mikan, L.A. Lakers, Michael Jordan, Minneapolis Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal
posted by David Friedman @ 1:58 AM
To Repeat or Not Repeat--That is the Question
There have been three distinct eras in NBA history in terms of teams winning repeat championships. From 1947-69, this was the rule rather than the exception, as Minneapolis won titles in 1949-50 and 1952-54 followed by Boston claiming championships in 1959-66 and 1968-69 (the Celtics also won a title in 1957 before losing in the Finals in 1958). Then, from 1970-1986 no NBA team won repeat titles, though several squads won two championships in three years (Boston, 1974 and 1976; L.A. Lakers, 1980 and 1982; Boston, 1984 and 1986). After the Lakers won the 1987 championship, Coach Pat Riley made a bold declaration that they would repeat in 1988. It took three brutal seven game series but the Lakers fulfilled Riley’s promise—and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar playfully stuck a towel in Riley’s mouth so that Riley would not guarantee a third consecutive championship. Riley actually trademarked the phrase "three-peat," but the Lakers came up short in the 1989 Finals after starting guards Magic Johnson and Byron Scott succumbed to leg injuries.
The Lakers' repeat titles seemed like an amazing accomplishment in that era but some of the shine has come off of that achievement because repeating has become almost de rigeur in the NBA. The Pistons did it in 1989-90, the Bulls notched a pair of three-peats (1991-93, 1996-98) sandwiched around Michael Jordan’s minor league baseball career, the Rockets won two championships in a row during Jordan’s absence and the Lakers won three in a row (2000-2002) shortly after the breakup of the Bulls. The only champions who have not repeated since 1987 are the 2006 Heat, the 2004 Pistons and four different Spurs’ squads, though San Antonio did win three titles in five years (2003, 2005, 2007).
The template for winning a repeat title generally includes having a Hall of Fame coach, earning the top ranking in point differential, having a player who finished in the top five in MVP voting and having at least two players who made the All-NBA First or Second Teams.
The NBA did not begin selecting an MVP until the 1955-56 season but it is safe to say that George Mikan would have easily finished in the top five in each of the years that his Lakers won championships. The Lakers ranked first in point differential four times during their reign and ranked second in 1954. They were coached by Hall of Famer John Kundla. Mikan made the All-NBA First Team all five years; he was joined by Jim Pollard in 1949 and 1950. Pollard made the All-NBA Second Team in 1952 and 1954, while Vern Mikkelson made the All-NBA Second Team in 1952 and 1953.
Bill Russell finished no worse than fourth in the MVP voting from 1959-66, wining the award four times during those years. In every one of those seasons at least one other Celtic finished in the top ten in MVP voting. At that time, the players voted for the MVP while the media selected the All-NBA teams. Russell and Wilt Chamberlain were easily that era’s most dominant players; Chamberlain won three MVPs during those eight years but he was voted to the All-NBA First Team five times, which relegated Russell to Second Team status. Still, the Celtics hardly lacked representation on the All-NBA teams: every year from 1959-66 they had at least two players chosen and in six of those seasons at least three Celtics made the cut. The Celtics ranked first in point differential all eight years--usually by wide margins—and they were coached by Hall of Famer Red Auerbach.
Russell replaced Auerbach as coach after the 1966 season. The Celtics were longer in the tooth and not quite as dominant, while Chamberlain’s Philadelphia 76ers had emerged as a powerhouse. The 76ers smoked the Celtics 4-1 in the 1967 Eastern Division Finals en route to winning the championship but the Celtics bounced back to win titles in 1968 and 1969. The Celtics ranked third in point differential in 1968 and first in 1969. They did not have a top five MVP candidate or an All-NBA First Teamer in 1968, though Russell and John Havlicek made the All-NBA Second Team. In 1969, Russell finished fourth in MVP voting but did not make the All-NBA Team because two of the three players who finished ahead of him in MVP voting (winner Wes Unseld and runner-up Willis Reed) were centers. Havlicek again made the All-NBA Second Team that season.
The 1987 Lakers ranked first in point differential and their floor general Magic Johnson made the All-NBA First Team and won his first MVP. No other Lakers made the All-NBA teams or received MVP votes but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy made the All-Star team. Each of those three were later selected to the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players List, so the Lakers certainly did not lack for talent that year. The 1988 Lakers ranked third in point differential. Magic finished third in MVP voting and again made the All-NBA First Team. No other Lakers joined him on that squad, though Worthy and Abdul-Jabbar both made the All-Star team. Hall of Famer Pat Riley coached the Lakers to those two championships in addition to leading them to two titles earlier in the decade.
The Pistons ranked fourth in point differential in 1989 and 1990. No Piston made the All-NBA First or Second Team during those years, nor did any Pistons receive serious MVP consideration but that is a little bit deceptive: they had a pair of Hall of Fame guards (Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars) who each won a Finals MVP, Dennis Rodman was a fabulous rebounder and defender (1990 and 1991 Defensive Player of the Year, eight-time All-Defensive Team selection) who had a Hall of Fame caliber career and key contributors Mark Aguirre and Bill Laimbeer had been All-Stars multiple times earlier in their careers. The Pistons sacrificed individual statistics and honors to build a winning team. Hall of Famer Chuck Daly called the shots on the sidelines.
The Bulls ranked first in point differential four times during their two three-peats and they never placed lower than fourth in that category. Michael Jordan won four MVPs and he finished second and third in the balloting the other two years; Jordan made the All-NBA First Team and the All-Defensive First Team in all six of those seasons. Scottie Pippen finished in the top 10 in MVP voting three times, earned three All-NBA selections and made four All-Star teams during those years; he also made the All-Defensive Team during each of the six championship seasons, including five First Team selections (he received eight First Team and one Second Team selection overall during his career). Hall of Famer Phil Jackson coached the Bulls throughout that era.
The Houston Rockets are the most unusual of the repeat champions statistically. They ranked sixth in point differential in 1994 and 11th in 1995. Rudy Tomjanovich was a players’ coach who certainly did a lot to inspire and motivate his team but it is doubtful that he will be inducted in the Hall of Fame. Hakeem Olajuwon won the 1994 MVP and placed fifth in the 1995 MVP voting but no other Rocket made the All-NBA First or Second Team during those years; midseason acquisition Clyde Drexler joined Olajuwon on the All-NBA Third Team in 1995 and he obviously played a crucial role for the Rockets during the playoffs.
Phil Jackson departed Chicago after the 1998 championship run and it is no coincidence that he promptly embarked on yet another three-peat, this time with the Lakers from 2000-02. The 1998 Lakers were the first team since the 1983 World Champion 76ers to have four All-Stars, they had a better point differential than the Bulls, won just one fewer regular season game and had an All-NBA First Teamer who finished fourth in the MVP voting (Shaquille O’Neal) yet they were swept out of the playoffs by the Utah Jazz. The highly talented Lakers were again swept out of the playoffs in 1999, this time by the San Antonio Spurs, but with Jackson calling the shots the Lakers became a dominant team in 2000, winning a league-best 67 games and ranking first in point differential. O’Neal won his first and only MVP, again made the All-NBA First Team and he made the All-Defensive Second Team, while Kobe Bryant earned an All-NBA Second Team selection and an All-Defensive First Team nod. The Lakers slipped to eighth in point differential in 2001 but that O’Neal-Bryant combination proved to be too tough during the playoffs. O’Neal finished third in MVP voting and once again made the All-NBA First Team and the All-Defensive Second Team, while Bryant placed ninth in MVP voting and earned All-NBA Second Team and All-Defensive Second Team honors. The Lakers improved to second in point differential in 2001 and O’Neal and Bryant made the All-NBA First Team and placed third and fifth respectively in MVP voting. Bryant also made the All-Defensive Second Team.
Will the Boston Celtics win a repeat championship, will they contend but fall short like the Pistons and Spurs did in recent seasons or will they implode like the Heat did? An implosion is the least likely scenario for the Celtics, because it took a perfect storm of injuries, age and apathy to wipe out the Heat. The Celtics ranked first in point differential in 2008 and Kevin Garnett ranked third in MVP voting, made the All-NBA First Team and won the Defensive Player of the Year award. No other Celtic made the All-NBA First or Second Team but Paul Pierce made the All-NBA Third Team and he had a great playoff run that he capped off by winning the Finals MVP. At this point, Doc Rivers seems more like a Rudy Tomjanovich than a future Hall of Famer; Rivers is a players’ coach who inspires and motivates. The Celtics certainly have a lot of the necessary pieces to repeat—great defense as indicated by their point differential, a Hall of Fame trio (Garnett, Pierce and Ray Allen) and a coach who has the respect of everyone in the locker room. The most important keys for the Celtics will be to keep their main players healthy and to continue to play with the hunger and desire that they displayed throughout the 2007-08 season.
Labels: Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, L.A. Lakers, Minneapolis Lakers
posted by David Friedman @ 3:24 PM
