In the 1971-72 season, time was running out for the Los Angeles Lakers. The original Big Three, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor were all in their 30’s: West was 34, Chamberlain was 35 and Baylor was 37.
It ran out fastest for Baylor: after years of injuries, he retired nine games into the season and after inserting rookie Jim McMillan in his slot, the Lakers immediately went on an epic run, winning 33 straight games, which is still an NBA record.
The streak was snapped by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and the Milwaukee Bucks, when the Lakers visited on January 9th, 1972.
You can see some wonderful stuff here from the big guys of course, Wilt and Kareem. They really didn’t like each other at that time and really fought for dominance. But you also see some really nice basketball from West and Robertson, who were two of the greatest guards to ever play the game.
Milwaukee won easily, 120-104, but L.A. got the last laugh, winning the championship.
Interestingly, Bill Russell, only a couple of years out of his epic career with the Boston Celtics, is on the broadcast crew. He wasn’t able to be as critical as he could be today, but it was interesting to listen to his comments.
