Lakers 33 consecutive victories, a record that has existed since 1972!

54 years ago today, January 7, 1972 Lakers won their 33rd (and last) consecutive success. A streak of record victories that still stands, half a century later!

And history records that it was against the Hawks, in Alexander Memorial Coliseum, that the Purple & Gold played (and won) the last match before they were finally defeated, more than two months after their last failure (!). by Bucks from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and Bob Dandridge, then the defending champion.

But before that, in Atlanta, teammates from Jerry West (12 points, 13 assists), Wilt Chamberlain (14 points, 14 rebounds) and Gail Goodrich (23 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists) didn’t have to push their talent to take the measure of the franchise of Pete Maravich, Lou Hudson and Walt Bellamy.

In the end, this brings success by 44 points for these Lakers, led by six players with more than 10 points and who brought their season record to 39 wins and 3 losses (they will finish with 69 wins and 13 losses, a record of 72-10 Bulls in 1995/96)! As well as continuing their insane unbeaten streak, which began on November 5, 1971 and has never really been undermined since.

One of the best teams in history

Because during 33 straight wins, Bill Sharman’s men – who were champions in 1972 for the 6th time in their history, just a few months after Elgin Baylor’s retirement – demonstrated undivided dominance (by an average of 16 points), piling up victories by more than 10, 20, 20, 34 points, and sometimes by 23, 03 points. All this on the trail of Wilt Chamberlain, the best rebounder in the league, and Jerry West, the best passer in the league.

Considered untouchable by some, this 1971/72 Lakers record has since been approached (relatively speaking) only by the Heat of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, who won 27 games in a row between February and March 2013. Trailing behind are the Warriors of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, with 24 straight wins between October and December 2015.

Then come the Rockets of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, with their 22-game winning streak between January and March 2008. Then it’s the Bucks who complete this Top 5 of all timewinning 20 straight between February and March 1971. Before the Los Angeles hitters blew up this old record less than a year later.

As it is 100 points by Wilt Chamberlainof the 30 assists Scott Skiles or Elmore Smith’s 17 blocks, we wonder when this NBA record, which no team has touched since then, will be broken.

The article was originally published in 2022