king of los angeles

Chapter 984 984. Past Glory
"Jerry West, his joining did not change the tragedy of the team's loss to the Celtics. We should be thankful? We didn't live in that era."

Johnson smiled wryly and talked about that period of team history. Throughout the 60s, the Lakers entered the finals seven times, but unfortunately fell to the Celtics six times, and the New York Knicks achieved another one.

"Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, they were the BIG3 of the Lakers in that era. Who would it be now? LeBron? Gary? Brandon?"

Johnson's words caught Kuzma's attention. He tilted his head and said, "Maybe it's BIG4. How about adding me?"

Everyone laughed, I don't know who said BIG15, indeed, everyone is a giant.

In the early 70s, sophomore Lewis Alcindor rose to prominence in Milwaukee and beat the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

However, the Lakers skyrocketed in the following season, scoring 69 wins and 13 losses in the regular season. During this period, there was a wave of 33 consecutive victories, the longest record in NBA history.

Since the Celtics' main center Bill Russell has retired, the Lakers finally began to reap the victory, all the way to the finals and successfully avenged the Knicks with a total score of 4-1.

In the next two seasons, as Chamberlain and West retired one after another, the Lakers completely entered a rebuilding period.

The documentary on the big screen continued to play, and everyone's expressions of devotion were written on their faces.You must know that most of the characters appearing on the screen are already 80 or [-] years old, and some of them are no longer alive.

That sense of solemnity has always shrouded the screening room. It has to be said that this is the background of the giants, and the Celtics, the arch-rival, must be the same.

The following atmosphere is slightly relaxed, because it is about to enter the "showtime" era. The Lakers led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, and Worthy and the Celtics led by Larry Bird and Kevin McHale set off another duo Fight for hegemony.

"Kyle Goodrich, a name not to be forgotten, who brought me to Los Angeles to meet each and every one of you."

Johnson pressed the pause button to recall an interesting incident from that year.

During the 1976 offseason, Lakers star Goodrich still resolutely chose to join the Jazz as a free agent because he was dissatisfied with the contract extension given by the team.

Bai picked up a superstar who averaged 25.3 points per game. At that time, the Jazz boss felt sorry and gave the Lakers a future first-round pick.

And this draft pick was implemented in 1979. It happened that the Jazz not only had the bottom record in the league this year, but also won the No. [-] pick, so Michigan State University's star player Ervin Johnson parachuted into Los Angeles.

Johnson sat down on the table and twisted his fat hips.

"If I had gone to the Jazz back then, I'm afraid it would be a different scene today."

"Now each of you is a member of the Lakers. This is an extremely lucky thing. Of course, there are challenges. Not everyone can withstand such a high exposure and presence."

Lin Feng thought that he was intentionally or unintentionally bringing up the incident of contracting AIDS and being forced to retire at the age of 32. Johnson could have done more.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at his peak made Johnson, and of course he is also a super player himself. The game against Julius Erving as a center in the finals was once a good story.

With five championships in nine years, the Lakers had great glory during the showtime period. However, with the departure of the meritorious coach Pat Riley and the birth of the "God of Basketball" Michael Jordan, the league structure once again experienced a huge shock.

"The whole '90s belonged to Michael, and his appearance changed the league. I played against him in the finals, and that guy would stare at you with creepy eyes."

Talking about Jordan, Johnson seems to have an inexplicable emotion in it.

In 1996, the Lakers ushered in the "Shark" O'Neal. In the same year, they were traded from the Hornets for Lower Merion High School guard Kobe Bryant.

Los Angeles has entered the "OK era", but young people need to experience polishing to grow.It wasn't until the "Zen Master" Phil Jackson, who led the Bulls to complete two and three consecutive championships, took over that the Lakers once again entered the finals stage.

Phil Jackson appeared on the screen, and the proprietress Jenny Buss subconsciously dodged her eyes. No one knew what she was thinking, and only they knew the past.

But having said that, Zen Master is definitely one of the most successful coaches in NBA history. This year the Lakers successfully won the championship. They once scored 15 points in the fourth quarter in the Western Conference Finals tiebreaker. Then O'Neal and Kobe took over the game and led the ball. The team completed the reversal and won the first championship in the "post-showtime" era.

"Shaq had 40 points, 24 rebounds, 4 rebounds and 3 blocks in Game [-] of the Finals. At that time, he was the best center in the league. Of course, the emergence of Yao Ming was another matter," Johnson said.

Many people know the following story. They won two more championships and completed three consecutive championships, and O'Neal was also elected FMVP for three consecutive times.From the documentary, I can feel how cruel that guy was back then, not just the funny image now.

Just when people thought that the OK combination would continue to expand its territory, a basketball player who looked a bit dull appeared, wearing his brother-in-law's No. 21 jersey when he played in college, and appeared in everyone's sight. He was Tim Duncan.

"Kobe Bryant and Shaq O'Neal, they are both guys who are not willing to be the second child of the team, so the contradictions are irreconcilable. If you want to know more about these things, you can ask my colleague Bob Pelinka .”

After Johnson finished speaking, he smiled knowingly. Of course, everyone understood what he meant, and laughed along with him.Pelinka, who was an agent back then, secretly helped Kobe and allowed the team to successfully "drive away" O'Neal.

In the following years, the team was depressed and made some wrong transactions. In the 0708-15 season, Los Angeles ushered in the Grizzlies center Paul Gasol. After one season, they successfully won the [-]th championship in team history. trophy.

At this point, Dwight Howard shrugged. It was the Magic Corps led by him that the Lakers defeated.

In another season, "The Beast" Artest joined the team and defeated the Celtics in seven games in the finals to complete two consecutive championships. Rajon Rondo was deeply impressed by the league structure in those years.

The documentary came to an end. As Kobe was getting older and injuries swept through, the team once again entered the rebuilding period.

After that, the current young people came to the stage, carrying the Zijin battle flag and continuing.

D'Angelo Russell, Larry Nance Jr., Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, and more vision.

Missing the playoffs for five consecutive years tied the total number of times the team was established in 65 years. You must know that they failed to enter the playoffs only five times from 1948 to 2013.

It wasn't until last year, when James landed in Los Angeles and Lin Feng was born, that all this began to change.

In fact, the management can't wait to define now as the "Gary LeBron era", or another more interesting code name. Although Old James is nearly 34 years old, it is entirely possible to play to Duncan's retirement age with his physical fitness. possible.

(End of this chapter)