1971-72 LAKERS TALK . . . ON THE RECORD

Bill Sharman was sweating.

He had just been handed the coaching reins of potentially the greatest team in NBA history and he could already feel them slipping away. A potential season for the ages was about to crumble and he hadn’t even made it to training camp yet.

It was the summer of 1971 and Sharman, after a Hall of Fame playing career with the Boston Celtics, had stepped into the coaching ranks and enjoyed spectacular success, winning championships with the Cleveland Pipers in the American Basketball League and the Utah Stars in the American Basketball Assn.

Now, Sharman was bringing his X’s and O’s and a hard-driving philosophy masked by an easy-going manner to the NBA as the new coach of the Lakers. He had replaced Joe Mullaney, who had failed to win a title despite having superstars Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.

Sharman wanted to institute a morning shoot-around to sharpen the team on game days. Today, that’s commonplace. But in those days, no team did that. But Sharman, having already had success with the idea in his previous coaching stops, was determined to make it a fixture for the Lakers.

Nobody protested, but everybody wondered, “What does Wilt think?”

Although he was 35 that summer, the 7-foot-1, 275-pound Chamberlain, a man who had scored 100 points in a game and had once averaged 50.4 a game over an entire season, was still the dominating presence on the team. Wilt did what Wilt wanted to do. Wilt intimidated players and coaches alike. And if Wilt didn’t want a morning shoot-around, there would be no morning shoot-around.

With this in mind, Sharman invited Chamberlain out to lunch so he could sell his idea.

But, when the bill came and Sharman reached for his wallet, it wasn’t there. He had forgotten it.

“Great,” he thought. “This will go over real big. I’m about to squander my goodwill. And I haven’t even brought up the shoot-around yet. If I lose on that, the other players will feel I’ve lost control of Wilt.”

Goodbye credibility. Goodbye season.

At that instant, the owner of the restaurant spotted his famous guests, approached the table and grabbed the check. Sharman protested, but only mildly.

And before anything else could go wrong, Sharman brought up the shoot-around.

“Well, it might help the other players, but, I don’t know if it will help me,” Chamberlain said. “I don’t sleep well at night, so I like to sleep in the mornings. But let’s try it and see what happens.”

Score one for the coach.

Sharman got tougher in training camp, even though the Lakers were working out in Hawaii.

“I went over there with a suntan and came back without it,” said West, now an executive vice president with the team.

The acceptance of Sharman’s new ideas hung on a quick start for his team. The Lakers won their first four games, but only two of the next five, giving them a 6-3 record. At that point, Baylor, 37 and slowed because of injuries, dramatically announced his retirement.

That allowed Sharman to insert second-year man Jim McMillian into the lineup at small forward. A tough defender and a good shooter, McMillian was the last piece Sharman needed for his masterpiece.

The Lakers went on a winning streak that stretched to 33 games, the longest in the history of professional sports, shattering the NBA record of 20 set by the Milwaukee Bucks the previous season, and even surpassing the record for any pro team of 26 in a row by the 1916 New York Giant baseball team.

The Lakers got a little crazy during the streak, as ballplayers, a largely superstitious lot, tend to do. Guard Gale Goodrich would take the last shot of the pregame warmups, then take a towel from trainer Frank O’Neill and throw it on the floor when he was finished with it. Sharman kept two pens clipped to his inside coat pocket, then switched them to his shirt pocket before the opening tip-off. West had shoes so badly worn that he had to tape the soles to the toes, but he refused to give them up until the streak was over.

Sharman’s first wife, Dorothy, who has since died, went to every game. When it appeared that she was going to miss one because of flu that caused her temperature to soar to 101 degrees, Sharman pulled her out of bed and got her to the game to keep whatever good luck she supplied in the arena.

By the time the season was over, the 1971-72 Lakers were worthy of an entire page in the NBA record book, highlighted by their season record of 69-13, which broke the old record of 68 regular-season victories set by the 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers.

The 69-victory standard has stood for nearly a quarter-century, but figures to be surpassed tonight when the Chicago Bulls shoot for their 70th victory, against Milwaukee.

“Everybody’s on the same page,” said West of the Bulls. “Everything is going right for them and I’m glad for them. It’s good for basketball.”

But West says Chicago may have some advantages his team did not.

“The scheduling is easier,” he said. “The travel is easier. Expansion always makes it easier. But no one else has done it and they have.”

However many games the Bulls wind up winning, the Lakers will always treasure their memories of that historic ‘71-72 season.

“That was as good as it gets,” said Goodrich, the shooting guard on that club and now, at 53, involved in golf course acquisition for a Connecticut company.

Goodrich was the top scorer on that team, finishing with a 25.9-point average, one-tenth of a point ahead of West’s 25.8.

That Goodrich was the leading scorer says a great deal about why that team was so successful, according to Sharman.

“If Jerry West wanted to, he could have been the leading scorer on our team, maybe even in the whole league,” Sharman said. “Wilt could have led the league in scoring. But everybody sacrificed for the team.”

Nobody more than Chamberlain and West, each of whom had found personal glory a sad substitute for team championships. Chamberlain had long suffered in the shadow of Boston center Bill Russell, who kept hoisting championship banners in Boston Garden while Chamberlain had to settle for new entries in the league record book. A 13-year veteran in 1971-72, Chamberlain had only one previous championship to show for his efforts, with the 76ers in 1966-67.

That was one more than West, a 12-year veteran, could boast of. West also knew the bitter frustration of facing Russell and company, having lost six times to the Celtics in the NBA finals, along with a loss to the New York Knicks in the 1970 finals.

Now, as the 1971-72 season rolled on and the victories piled up, both men began to think the unthinkable, a first title for the Lakers since their arrival in Los Angeles for the 1960-61 season.

And why not? It was a team without an apparent weakness, a team consisting of:

WILT CHAMBERLAIN

Center

It had been a decade since Chamberlain had averaged more than 50 points. It had been six years since he had averaged in the 30s. But in that 1971-72 season, he was everything Sharman needed, a dominating force in the middle who discouraged, intimidated and ultimately smothered anyone foolish enough to test him in the key, a powerful rebounder who led the league that season with 19.2 a game--he had five games of 30 or more rebounds--an effective passer who averaged four assists, and the trigger man on the fast break.

Leroy Ellis was the backup, but he wasn’t a big factor. Chamberlain played in every game.

HAPPY HAIRSTON

Power forward

Teammates used to joke that Hairston guaranteed himself at least four rebounds a game by making sure he was under the basket at the end of each quarter to get the desperation shot that was almost always launched as time ran out.

But beneath the kidding was admiration for Hairston’s play. Operating under Chamberlain’s impressive wingspan, Hairston still managed to pull down 1,045 rebounds in 80 games for an average of 13.1. With Hairston on the court, defenses couldn’t be satisfied even if they somehow succeeded in boxing out Chamberlain.

JIM McMILLIAN

Small forward

McMillian wasn’t intimidated by being thrust into the lineup after Baylor’s retirement. After all, McMillian’s forte was defense. And he had already guarded Baylor, one of the greatest small forwards ever, in practice. So McMillian figured it couldn’t be any worse than that. It wasn’t. He played tough without the ball, averaged an unexpected 18.8 points and 6.5 rebounds.

“I knew what Elgin Baylor meant to the game,” said McMillian, now 48 and working for a clothing manufacturer in Greensboro, N.C. “And I knew that wasn’t me. But it wasn’t like they depended on me.”

Not at first, but more and more as the season went on.

All in all, McMillian was an unexpected plus.

JERRY WEST

Point guard

“When I could play at my highest level, nothing happened,” West said. “But that year, when I was not as good by my standards, something happened.”

Not as good? Besides averaging more than 25 points a game, West also led the league in assists with 9.7 a game. And he played his usual brilliant defense.

“They didn’t count steals in those days,” Sharman said. “But I know there were a couple of games where West had about 10.”

Said Keith Erickson, a teammate of West on that 1971-72 team and now a Phoenix Suns’ commentator: “That year may not have been up to Jerry’s standards, but I would have been happy to have played my whole career at that level.”

GAIL GOODRICH

Shooting guard

Goodrich knew he was going to have a good year after a conversation with the new coach. Sharman gave Goodrich what every player who ever looked in the direction of the basket dreams of: the green light.

“When you come down on the break, if you have an open shot, take it,” Sharman said. “If the other guys complain, we’ll just tell them to get down faster.”

Goodrich validated his coach’s faith in him. He finished fifth in the league in scoring, shooting 48.7% from the field, a mark exceeded among the Laker starters only by Chamberlain, who had the advantage of taking most of his shots within arm’s reach of the basket. But Goodrich could do more than shoot. He also averaged 4.5 assists, played good defense and ran the break with skill and confidence.

THE BENCH

Flynn Robinson provided instant offense. Erickson, when he was free of injury, which was not often that season, was the consummate swing man. Ellis, John Trapp and Jim Cleamons all filled in and logged a lot of garbage time. When Sharman needed some muscle, a man not reluctant to bang bodies and protect the superstars, he called on Pat Riley.

Cleamons has a unique role in all this. He is now an assistant to Chicago Coach Phil Jackson, and as such will be the only man to appear in both team pictures.

“I was just very fortunate to have been part of both teams,” Cleamons said. “P.J. [Jackson] asked me to talk to our team earlier this year and let them know what was ahead, based on what it was like that year.”

For the ‘71-72 Lakers, none of it mattered after the clock ticked off the final seconds of the regular season.

“I’ve been on other teams that set records,” Chamberlain said. “Everything is forgotten if you don’t win it all.”

The Lakers shut out the Bulls in the opening round of the playoffs, got past the defending champion Bucks in six games and then, after losing the opener of the final series to the Knicks, reeled off four consecutive victories, giving Los Angeles its first NBA title.

Goodrich remembers driving down Manchester Boulevard on his way to the Forum for Game 5 of the finals. He noticed a sign on the front of an Inglewood high school announcing that Chamberlain and his volleyball team would be putting on an exhibition the next night.

“I knew then we were going to win it that night,” Goodrich said. “I knew that Wilt was coming to play because he had scheduled that volleyball match for the next night and he wasn’t planning on missing it.”

Sure enough, with Chamberlain scoring 24 points and pulling down 29 rebounds, the Lakers won, 114-100.

Now they could truly be classed among the greatest teams. But if a long-forgotten restaurant owner hadn’t been generous enough to pick up a check, who knows?

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Best of the Best

How the eight all-time winningest NBA teams fared in the playoffs:

* 1972 Lakers (69-13)--d. Chicago, 4-0, in Western Conference semifinals; defeated Milwaukee, 4-2, in conference finals; d. New York, 4-1, in NBA Finals.

* 1967 Philadelphia (68-13)--d. Cincinnati, 3-1, in Eastern Conference semifinals; d. Boston, 4-1, in conference finals; d. San Francisco, 4-2, in NBA Finals.

* 1973 Boston (68-14)--d. Atlanta, 4-2, in Eastern Conference semifinals; lost to New York, 4-3, in conference finals

* 1992 Chicago (67-15)--d. Miami, 3-0, in Eastern Conference first round; d. New York, 4-3, in conference semifinals; d. Cleveland, 4-2, in conference finals; d. Portland, 4-2, in NBA Finals.

* 1986 Boston (67-15)--d. Chicago, 3-0, in Eastern Conference first round; d. Atlanta, 4-1, in conference semifinals; d. Milwaukee, 4-0, in conference finals; d. Houston, 4-2, in NBA Finals.

* 1971 Milwaukee (66-16)--d. San Francisco, 4-1, in Western Conference semifinals; d. Lakers, 4-1, in conference finals; d. Baltimore, 4-0, in NBA Finals.

* 1983 Philadelphia (65-17)--d. New York, 4-0, in Eastern Conference semifinals; d. Milwaukee, 4-1, in conference finals; d. Lakers, 4-0, in NBA Finals.

* 1987 Lakers (65-17)--d. Denver, 3-0, in Western Conference first round; d. Golden State, 4-1, in conference semifinals; d. Seattle, 4-0, in conference finals; d. Boston, 4-2, in NBA Finals.

Note: Seven of the eight winningest teams won the NBA championship and combined the eight are 535-120 (.817) in the regular season and 100-28 (.781) in the playoffs.