Will the Lakers vs Hawks history of Jan 7 1972 repeat itself

Since the NBA is in its 75th season, the league scheduled certain games between specific teams at specific times to honor what happened on those days in the past.

The Lakers will feature in an NBA 75 classic matchup against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, Jan. 7 at 10:00 p.m. EST on ESPN.

On that day in 1972, Los Angeles drubbed the Hawks, 134-90. It marked L.A.’s 33rd win in a row, which is the longest winning streak to this day in the league’s history.

Now, it’ll be LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook taking on a fiery young core in Atlanta comprising Trae Young, John Collins, Kevin Huerter, De’Andre Hunter and plenty of other notable talents.

First part of the history here on this link

Later that night, the Lakers squeaked by Baltimore, 110-106, as Gail Goodrich scored 31 points and Chamberlain grabbed 25 rebounds. The team’s record was 7-3, but it came after a 4-0 start. If the Lakers kept playing without effort, Sharman threatened, there would be fines for everyone.

“Me, too,” he told the Times. “If I can’t get the message across, I’m failing, too.” The year before, Sharman had fined himself $100 while coaching the ABA’s Utah Stars.

Though the streak began on a nondescript November evening, Sharman says its foundation was established the previous summer when he decided he wanted to initiate a morning shootaround.

“Management told me that Wilt might not go for it,” Sharman recalls. “So before the season began I took him to lunch and he said, ‘Bill, I’ve known you a long time. I don’t like getting up early in the morning, but if you think it’ll help the team, then I’ll do it.'”

The shootaround had worked wonders for Sharman. As a player with the Celtics, Sharman had noticed his free-throw percentage jump after he began practicing in the mornings. He won seven NBA free-throw titles, but only after he began morning workouts did he shoot 90 percent for a season – which he did three times. He thought early practices increased his muscle memory and confidence for each evening’s game (Sharman employed the same routine in coaching the American Basketball League’s Cleveland Pipers, a team owned by George Steinbrenner, to the ABL championship in 1962).

Associated Press

Jerry West, shown against Houston in the Lakers’ 28th consecutive win on Dec. 27, 1971, led the NBA with 9.7 assists per game in 1971-72.

The Lakers’ starting five averaged 98.4 points per game during that 1971-72 season, thanks to the one-two punch of West and Goodrich. The two combined for 51.7 points per game, the most ever by a backcourt tandem. The split was essentially democratic – 25.9 points per game for Goodrich and 25.8 for West.

“It was easy to play with Gail,” West explains. “I knew where he was going to be. He was very clever. He knew how to get open and how to make people foul him. He knew how to make jump shots and get in the lane.”

Playing with a high-scoring guard for the first time, West won the assists title with 9.7 per game.

“At that time guards shared one and two,” Goodrich says. “I would go 7-for-10 and then go 1-for-8 and [assistant coach] K.C. Jones would say, ‘Keep shooting.’ It was the saturation method – just keep firing.

“Also, we viewed film, and I had never looked at film before. We were concerned about who we were going to play – our execution. … We were putting the ball in Jerry’s hands a lot. In crunch time he was the best. I wasn’t fighting him for the ball. He was such a great team player. If I got open he would get me the ball. He helped me out defensively.”

Says West: “We knew where everyone was, and if someone made a mistake everyone was there to help you. On defense, we would not let teams reverse the ball, and we would keep it on the sideline, and we had Wilt back there so people weren’t going to get any layups.”

Close games were the exception.

“We just started killing people,” West says.

Substitutes Flynn Robinson, Pat Riley, John Q. Trapp and LeRoy Ellis could expect increased minutes during blowouts. The team played Sharman’s up-tempo style, averaging 123.3 points during the streak.

“That team emitted so much confidence, man,” said former Knicks guard Walt Frazier, who guarded West. “They methodically overwhelmed you. Chamberlain was doing his thing. The backcourt was dynamic. As time went on, it was uncanny just how easily they were winning games.”

Los Angeles chalked up New York as victim No. 3, 103-96. The streak climbed to five in Philadelphia, 143-103. Seattle was 12th on the list, 139-115. The 13th in a row came against Detroit, 132-113, as Chamberlain contributed 31 points, 31 rebounds and six blocks.

“The players are taking pride in the winning streak,” Sharman told the Times afterward. “Wilt is saying, ‘C’mon, let’s keep it going.'”

Associated Press

Gail Goodrich played in all 82 games in 1971-72 and led the Lakers with 25.9 points per game.

The first gut check came against Phoenix while going for 20 straight to tie Milwaukee’s record, set the previous season. It was L.A.’s third game in three nights. The game went to overtime, but “Stumpy,” – a name given to the 6-foot-1 Goodrich by Baylor – sealed the deal, racking up seven of the Lakers’ 15 points in overtime in a 126-117 win.

“We had a very tiring travel day yesterday,” Sharman explained afterward, noting a bad plane connection from Houston to Oakland. “We had to go almost an entire game with our regulars because it was so close.”

The record breaker came two nights later on Dec. 12 against Atlanta. It was the Lakers’ fourth game in five nights. They led 96-95 with 61 seconds left. Shortly after that, with the 24-second clock winding down, Goodrich couldn’t find a shot. Then he whipped a pass to Chamberlain for a dunk with 39 seconds left. They ended up winning 104-95.

The game bore an imprint of Laker versatility. Wilt had 24 boards – 11 in the fourth quarter – as the Hawks led 77-75 entering the last period. Goodrich scored 32 points, and West added 26. Atlanta’s Walt Bellamy battled Chamberlain – with each playing all 48 minutes – and posted 22 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.

“The players really wanted it badly,” Sharman told the Times, “and that’s why they were so tight in their shooting. As a consequence, we never got our running game going. So we had to grind it out the hard way. All the teams we’ve played lately have been loose, and they’ve been up for us. … A lot of teams have won championships in the history of the NBA, but nobody has done this.”

But without a title in the end, the streak would be all for naught.

Associated Press

Wilt Chamberlain sacrificed his offensive game in 1971-72, but he led the Lakers by playing 42.3 minutes per game at age 35.

Los Angeles reeled off 12 more to reach 33 in a row. The team’s record loomed at 39-3 when the Lakers traveled to Milwaukee. The Bucks were the defending champions, having won 66 regular-season games the previous season.

“They could match up pretty well with us,” Goodrich remembered. “Kareem was the MVP. We were seeing the changing of the guard. They had Oscar [Robertson] and Lucius Allen.”