Retro POY '71-72 (Voting Complete)

[Doctor MJ]

In this thread we'll discuss and vote on the top 5 best player seasons of '71-72.

Trying something new now. Schedule will be Mon-Fri, and Thu-Mon. Typically this will be morning to morning.

Some things to start us off:

NBA
Season Summary http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... _1972.html
Playoff Summary http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... _1972.html
Award Voting http://www.basketball-reference.com/awa ... _1972.html
Final Box Score http://webuns.chez-alice.fr/finals/1972.htm

ABA
Season Summary http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... _1972.html
Playoff Summary http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... _1972.html

Topics
Lakers & Bucks two of the best teams in history.
Knicks upset way to finals without Reed.
Gimore, Erving, McGinnis arrive in the ABA

[JordansBulls]

1. Kareem - League MVP, 1st in PER, WS and win Shares PER 48 Minutes and 1st in Playoff PER. Finished 2nd on his team in the playoffs in Win Shares and 4th in WS/PER 48 Minutes


2. Walt Frazier - 1st Team All NBA and 1st Team Defense, 3rd in WS and 3rd in Win Shares Per 48 Minutes, Led Playoffs in Win Shares and Win Shares PER 48 Minutes, Led in playoff Points and was 3rd in PER.


3. Wilt Chamberlain - 3rd in MVP voting, Finals MVP, Alll NBA 2nd Team and 1st Team Defense, 2nd in Win Shares

4. Artis Gilmore - ABA League MVP, 1st in Win Shares and WS Per 48 minutes, 1st in RPG, 1st in BPG, 1st in PER


5. Jerry West - 2nd in MVP voting, All NBA 1st Team and 1st Team Defense, 5th in Win Shares, 3rd in PER.

[Sedale Threatt]

The Adbul-Jabbar/Chamberlain matchup is probably going to swing this one. Kareem again had the better RS, but I seem to remember Wilt outplaying him by some degree in the playoffs. First call for box scores.

[ThaRegul8r]

The Adbul-Jabbar/Chamberlain matchup is probably going to swing this one. First call for box scores.

I was going to cover this.

[ThaRegul8r]

Here are my first three names on my ballot:

1. Wilt Chamberlain. 14.8 points on a league-leading 64.9 percent from the field, led the league with 19.2 rebounds, passed for 4.0 assists, played all 82 games averaging 42.3 minutes per (3rd in the league), led the league in true shooting percentage (.610) and defensive win shares (7.9), was second in win shares (15.8) [behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (25.4)], was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team, and led the Lakers to a professional sports record 33 consecutive wins, a 69-13 record—which stood until the Chicago Bulls went 72-10 in 1995-96. Credit goes to Wilt for buying into what Bill Sharman wanted from him. I will give criticism or praise where I feel it’s deserved. His defense on league MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the reason the Lakers advanced to the Finals. NBA Finals MVP, averaging 19.4 points on 60 percent shooting, 23.2 rebounds, 7.4 blocked shots and 2.6 assists in 49.2 minutes per game. In the deciding Game 5, Wilt scored 24 points on 10-for-14 shooting (71.4%), grabbed 29 rebounds, blocked 10 shots and passed for four assists. Jerry West averaged 19.8 points on 32.5 percent shooting from the floor and 38.1 percent true shooting for the Finals, so Chamberlain did what needed to be done in order for the team to win, which separates this season from the last season we just covered.

2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 34.8 points (1st in the league) on 57.4 percent shooting (2nd), 16.6 rebounds (3rd), 4.6 assists in 44.2 minutes per game (2nd), NBA Most Valuable Player. Led league in PER (29.9), offensive win shares (18.3—highest in NBA history), win shares (25.4—highest in NBA history), WS/48 (.340), finished second in defensive win shares (7.1).

3. Walt Frazier. 23.2 points on 51.2 percent shooting and 57.6 percent true shooting (6th in the league), 6.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists (9th) in 40.6 minutes per game, First Team All-NBA, First Team All-Defense. Willis Reed played only 11 games. In the postseason, Frazier averaged 24.3 points on 53.6 percent shooting and 58.6 percent true shooting, 7.0 rebounds and 6.1 assists in 44.0 minutes per game, led the playoffs in offensive win shares (2.6), win shares (3.3), and win shares per 48 minutes (.227). Led a Reed-less Knick team to the NBA Finals, where he averaged 23 points on 58.5 percent shooting from the floor, 70.4 percent shooting from the line and 61.2 percent true shooting, 8 rebounds and 8 assists in 45.2 minutes per game to Jerry West’s 19.8 points on 32.5 percent shooting from the floor, 79.3 percent shooting from the line and 38.1 percent true shooting, 4 rebounds and 8.8 assists in 41.2 minutes per game.

[Mean_Streets]

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Like last year, there isn't anyone better than Kareem. Kareem at this point is at his absolute peak averaging 35/17/5 on 57 fg% & league MVP.

2. Wilt Chamberlain - It is arguable that 70's Chamberlain is the greatest defensive center in league history. An amazing defender & rebounder. NBA champion & Finals MVP.

3. Jerry West - 2nd in MVP voting. All-NBA First Team & All-NBA Defensive First Team. I think he was the Lakers best player during the RS, but his postseason performance is the reason why I rank him behind Chamberlain.

4. Walt Frazier - All-NBA First Team & All-NBA Defensive First Team. Led the Knicks to the Finals.

5. John Havlicek - This is probably Havlicek at his absolute peak. 28/8/8 46 fg%. Like West & Frazier he made it to the All-NBA First Team & All-NBA Defensive First Team.

[Sedale Threatt]

What little I can parse together from books:

Game 1 (Milwaukee)
Kareem, 22 points, 26 rebounds
Wilt, 22 rebounds

Game 2 (L.A.)
???
Jim McMillian goes off for 42 in a 135-134 win. How come we can't get this game on ESPN Classic instead of Boston-Phoenix for the millionth time?

Game 3 (L.A.)
Kareem, 33 points
Wilt, 10 blocked shots (allegedly, six on Kareem)

Game 4 (Milwaukee)
Kareem, 31 points

Game 5 (L.A.)
Kareem, 16 rebounds
Wilt, 26 rebounds

Game 6 (L.A.)
Wilt, 22 points, 24 rebounds, nine blocked shots (allegedly, five on Kareem)

West -- It was the greatest ball busting performance I've ever seen.

Overall, Kareem outscored Wilt 201-70 in the regular season, then 202-67 in the playoffs. According to Elliott Kalb, "Chamberlain outrebounded Abdul-Jabbar and played better defense."

[Sedale Threatt]

It's a testament to Wilt's greatness when you see 22/24/9 in an elimination game, and you think "not bad" instead of "holy f'ing isht."

[ThaRegul8r]

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Like last year, there isn't anyone better than Kareem. Kareem at this point is at his absolute peak averaging 35/17/5 on 57 fg% & league MVP.

2. Wilt Chamberlain - It is arguable that 70's Chamberlain is the greatest defensive center in league history. An amazing defender & rebounder. NBA champion & Finals MVP.

3. Jerry West - 2nd in MVP voting. All-NBA First Team & All-NBA Defensive First Team. I think he was the Lakers best player during the RS, but his postseason performance is the reason why I rank him behind Chamberlain.

I knew who my first three names were going to be, but I need to think about where to put West. I've been delving into the regular season in preparation for this year, and also looking at what West and Wilt did during the streak. It seems West missed five games at the beginning of the year, and the Lakers went 2-3. West came back and they went on the streak. But the fact that West had the worst postseason of his career this season is a knock against him, and I have to decide how much I should penalize him. 22.9 points on 37.6 percent shooting and 44.5 percent true shooting in the postseason overall, and 19.8 points on 32.5 percent shooting from the floor and 38.1 percent true shooting on in the Finals. Which is why Wilt gets props for stepping up this season when he didn't the last season we covered.

[ThaRegul8r]

From my own research on this season:

1972 Western Conference Finals – Los Angeles Lakers (69-13) vs. Milwaukee Bucks (63-19)

Game 1: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 33 points and 18 rebounds to Wilt’s 10 and 24 as Milwaukee won 93-72. In the third quarter, the Lakers scored eight points on 4-for-20 shooting (20%). The Bucks outscored the Lakers 31-8, and made a 37-34 halftime lead into a 68-42 lead after three. “Our defense caused a lot of turnovers,” said Milwaukee coach Larry Costello. “They weren’t getting good percentage shots. And this is what we had to do in order to execute a successful game plan.” Jerry West “had one of his worst games” with 10 points, and Gail Goodrich had eight. The Lakers shot 27.2 percent.

Game 2: Jim McMillian, held to 3-for-20 in Game 1, scored a career-high 42 (16-25 FG) as the Lakers evened the series with a 135-134 win. Jabbar had 40 points and 17 rebounds to Wilt’s 11 and 17.

Game 3: Los Angeles wins 108-105. “Goodrich scored 30, Jim McMillian 27 and Jerry West 22 for the Lakers but Wilt Chamberlain may have made the biggest contribution of all. The 7-foot-1 veteran was outscored 33-7 and outrebounded 21-14 by 7-foot-2 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But Chamberlain blocked nine shots, six of them by Abdul-Jabbar, and distracted the Milwaukee super-star to the point where he made only 15 of 37 shots” (The Evening Independent, Apr. 15, 1972). Chamberlain said, “I guess I’d say it was my best game against him in some time, but this is a team game and I had help. You can’t worry about trying to beat Milwaukee by stopping him cold, because it’s an impossible feat.” The Lakers were out-rebounded 58-46, and they shot 41-for-88 (46.6%) to Milwaukee’s 45-for-105 (42.9%).

Game 4: Milwaukee wins 114-88 to square the series at 2-2. Milwaukee scored the first 11 points of the game, seven of which were by Jabbar, who celebrated his 25th birthday by scoring 31 points, grabbing 18 rebounds, passing for seven assists and blocking seven shots, and holding Chamberlain to five points and 11 rebounds. Milwaukee shot 15-for-27 (55.6%) in the first quarter to LA’s 9-for-27 (33.3%).

Game 5: LA wins 115-90. The Lakers out-rebounded the Bucks 70-57, Chamberlain out-rebounding Kareem 26-16. “That was the big thing,” said West. “If we don’t get dominated inside, we’ve got a chance” (The Milwaukee Journal, Apr. 18, 1972). Abdul-Jabbar had a game-high 28 points—his lowest output of the series, but needed 33 shots, of which had made 13 (39.4%). Lakers coach Bill Sharman said it was the best defensive job Chamberlain had done on Jabbar all year. “He kept making contact and didn’t let Kareem get loose,” said Sharman. “He played him kind of like Nate Thurmond plays him. He forced him to take off balance shots” (The Milwaukee Journal, Apr. 18, 1972). Chamberlain also scored 12 points, making all eight of his free throws.

Game 6: Wilt had 22 points on 8-for-12 (66.7%) shooting, 24 rebounds and nine blocked shots—five of them on Kareem, and held Kareem—who had 37 points on 16-for-36 shooting (44.4%), 25 rebounds and eight assists—to 2-for-8 shooting (25%) in the game’s final 10 minutes as the Lakers won 104-100 to advance to the NBA Finals. West scored 12 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, and Chamberlain nine, as the Lakers came back from a 10-point deficit.

TIME magazine wrote: “In the N.B.A.’s western division title series with Milwaukee, he decisively outplayed basketball’s newest giant superstar, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, eleven years his junior” (“One for the Dipper.” TIME. 22 May 1972. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/print ... 93,00.html).

[Sedale Threatt]

Cool stuff. At first glance it looks to me like Kareem, while he obviously had his struggles, did enough to maintain the gap he built during the RS. There were a couple of games where he flat-out kicked Wilt's ass, whereas you can't really say the opposite.

[Sedale Threatt]

TIME magazine wrote: “In the N.B.A.’s western division title series with Milwaukee, he decisively outplayed basketball’s newest giant superstar, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, eleven years his junior” (“One for the Dipper.” TIME. 22 May 1972. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/print ... 93,00.html).

Was this your impression? Because, without having watched these games in real time, it certainly isn't mine.

[JordansBulls]

From my own research on this season:

1972 Western Conference Finals – Los Angeles Lakers (69-13) vs. Milwaukee Bucks (63-19)

Game 1: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 33 points and 18 rebounds to Wilt’s 10 and 24 as Milwaukee won 93-72. In the third quarter, the Lakers scored eight points on 4-for-20 shooting (20%). The Bucks outscored the Lakers 31-8, and made a 37-34 halftime lead into a 68-42 lead after three. “Our defense caused a lot of turnovers,” said Milwaukee coach Larry Costello. “They weren’t getting good percentage shots. And this is what we had to do in order to execute a successful game plan.” Jerry West “had one of his worst games” with 10 points, and Gail Goodrich had eight. The Lakers shot 27.2 percent.

Game 2: Jim McMillian, held to 3-for-20 in Game 1, scored a career-high 42 (16-25 FG) as the Lakers evened the series with a 135-134 win. Jabbar had 40 points and 17 rebounds to Wilt’s 11 and 17.

Game 3: Los Angeles wins 108-105. “Goodrich scored 30, Jim McMillian 27 and Jerry West 22 for the Lakers but Wilt Chamberlain may have made the biggest contribution of all. The 7-foot-1 veteran was outscored 33-7 and outrebounded 21-14 by 7-foot-2 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But Chamberlain blocked nine shots, six of them by Abdul-Jabbar, and distracted the Milwaukee super-star to the point where he made only 15 of 37 shots” (The Evening Independent, Apr. 15, 1972). Chamberlain said, “I guess I’d say it was my best game against him in some time, but this is a team game and I had help. You can’t worry about trying to beat Milwaukee by stopping him cold, because it’s an impossible feat.” The Lakers were out-rebounded 58-46, and they shot 41-for-88 (46.6%) to Milwaukee’s 45-for-105 (42.9%).

Game 4: Milwaukee wins 114-88 to square the series at 2-2. Milwaukee scored the first 11 points of the game, seven of which were by Jabbar, who celebrated his 25th birthday by scoring 31 points, grabbing 18 rebounds, passing for seven assists and blocking seven shots, and holding Chamberlain to five points and 11 rebounds. Milwaukee shot 15-for-27 (55.6%) in the first quarter to LA’s 9-for-27 (33.3%).

Game 5: LA wins 115-90. The Lakers out-rebounded the Bucks 70-57, Chamberlain out-rebounding Kareem 26-16. “That was the big thing,” said West. “If we don’t get dominated inside, we’ve got a chance” (The Milwaukee Journal, Apr. 18, 1972). Abdul-Jabbar had a game-high 28 points—his lowest output of the series, but needed 33 shots, of which had made 13 (39.4%). Lakers coach Bill Sharman said it was the best defensive job Chamberlain had done on Jabbar all year. “He kept making contact and didn’t let Kareem get loose,” said Sharman. “He played him kind of like Nate Thurmond plays him. He forced him to take off balance shots” (The Milwaukee Journal, Apr. 18, 1972). Chamberlain also scored 12 points, making all eight of his free throws.

Game 6: Wilt had 22 points on 8-for-12 (66.7%) shooting, 24 rebounds and nine blocked shots—five of them on Kareem, and held Kareem—who had 37 points on 16-for-36 shooting (44.4%), 25 rebounds and eight assists—to 2-for-8 shooting (25%) in the game’s final 10 minutes as the Lakers won 104-100 to advance to the NBA Finals. West scored 12 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, and Chamberlain nine, as the Lakers came back from a 10-point deficit.

TIME magazine wrote: “In the N.B.A.’s western division title series with Milwaukee, he decisively outplayed basketball’s newest giant superstar, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, eleven years his junior” (“One for the Dipper.” TIME. 22 May 1972. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/print ... 93,00.html).

Damn so the Bucks could have gone up 2-0 on LA? Imagine that, he might have been a sweep then.

[semi-sentient]

Cool stuff. At first glance it looks to me like Kareem, while he obviously had his struggles, did enough to maintain the gap he built during the RS. There were a couple of games where he flat-out kicked Wilt's ass, whereas you can't really say the opposite.

That's exactly what I'm thinking. It's going to be a tough choice either way and I'm looking forward to hearing more about those two. They are pretty clearly the top 2 players this year.

[fatal9]

Kareem was a monster this season, this very well might have been the best statistical season ever on a 60+ win team (or on any team). On top of that he also anchored the best defense in the league (opponents shot 42% against them in a league average of 45.5%, and a league best 40.5% in the playoffs). He was also the only player in league history to average 32+ ppg on 55+%, and he did it against an incredible field of centers (maybe the deepest field ever?). Wilt, Lanier, Cowens, Thurmond, Bellamy, Unseld, Hayes, Elmore Smith (shot blocking beast).

Here are his averages against some of the elite centers of the league during the season:

His five matchups with Cowens, he got:

43/17/2
55/18/3
30/13 (call it an off night)
51/17/7
45/25 (Celtics said pre-game their plan was the "to just hold Jabbar under 50", and I guess they succeeded)

Averages: 44.8 ppg, 18 rpg, 4-5 apg, 57.1 FG%

His five matchups with Wilt in the regular season:

39/17/6
39/20/5
40/18/4
33/12/8
50/8/2

Averages: 40.2 ppg, 15.2 rpg, 5 apg, 51 FG% (Oscar didn't play in most of these games)

In February of that year, he put together a crazy stretch of games. Dropped 45 pts on the Suns, then gave Wilt 40/18/4 in the following game and the next night dropped 41 pts on Hayes. He then had a "dissapointing" 31/20/3 but came back on track with 53/14/8 vs. Cavs in the next game. Couple of games later, he gave Cowens 51/17/7 and then later on in the week scored 53 against the Sixers. A couple of days after this, he gave the Bulls 44/18 and then the Suns 44/20/11 after that. Insanity...

In the playoffs here are the stats for Wilt vs. Kareem:

Wilt - 10.8 ppg, 19.3 rpg, 3.3 apg, 45.2 FG%, 44 FT% (probably about a 6-7 block average)
Kareem - 33.7 ppg, 17.5 rpg, 4.8 apg on 45.7 FG%, 84 FT% (probably about 4-5 block average)

Other notes on the series:

- Aggregate stats do hide the fact that Wilt forced Kareem into several poor shooting games. Kareem's shooting by the game was: 14/26, 18/31, 15/37, 14/33, 13/33, 16/37. Kareem averaged 33 FGA in the series, which is an outrageous amount to take against an elite defensive center like Wilt (I doubt anyone has shot over 50% in a 6-7 game playoff series where they averaged 30+ shots, especially against a defensive powerhouse).
- Part of the reason for Kareem's high volume of shots was because Oscar was injured in the series (he only played 5 minutes in the elimination game 6), and part of the reason was Kareem's desire to put up 40 on Wilt every single night (some nights he'd succeed, and some nights he'd shoot poorly). Given how close the series ended up being, this may have been a different series with a healthy Oscar.
- Wilt and West took over in the fourth quarter of game 6 to close out the Bucks. West had 14 pts I believe, Wilt had 9 (off dunks and tip-ins) but his defense on Kareem in that stretch was the real game-changer.
- Kareem played with tendinitis on his "skyhook leg" during the series. He rarely wrapped up his leg, but did so during the series, and judging from the little footage we have of the series, he doesn't have to typical lift on his skyhook: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seEEUwdWapQ&#t=8m33s
- A forgotten hero for the Lakers in this series was Jim McMillian, who had 42 pts in the must win game 2 to lead Lakers to a one point win. Lakers lose that game? They go down 0-2 and go to Milwaukee for next 2 games.
- There was some controversy regarding refereeing. In game 2 (Lakers won by one point), the official missed an over and back on the last play of the game, and then the ball hit the official when it was about to go off on West after Kareem knocked it loose. Bucks stated they were "robbed", and there was a huge discrepancy throughout the series in FTA that several newspapers have pointed to. Lakers won every close game, a couple apparently due to favorable refereeing while the Bucks two wins were in blowouts. Bucks actually outscored the Lakers over the series. I do think Wilt was probably intentionally fouled in the series which adds to the FTA discrepancy.
- It seems as though everybody shot poorly in this series. Here were the shooting percentages of everyone after 5 games:

[ThaRegul8r]

Article before the Western Conference Finals:

The Los Angeles Lakers, who left their National Basketball Association title hopes on the operating table last season, may benefit from key injuries this year as they open their Western Conference final playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks here today.

Last year, the Lakers went into the playoffs without All-Pro guard Jerry West, sidelined after knee surgery, and the Bucks polished them off in five games en route to the NBA championship. But this year Milwaukee is hurting.

Veteran guard Oscar Robertson has been bothered by pulled and inflamed abdominal muscles since early February. He returned to nearly fulltime action in the Bucks 4-1 victory over the Golden State Warriors in the first playoff round, but said afterward he was below par.

“I couldn’t go out and run and couldn’t start or drive,” he said. “I could just position and maneuver.”

The two top reserve guards, Jon McGlocklin and Wally Jones, are both ailing. McGlocklin missed the Golden State series with strained back muscles and may miss the first week—four games—of the Laker series. Jones sat out Thursday night’s game with pulled ligaments in his left foot, and it isn’t known how much he’ll play Sunday.

Robertson’s importance to the Bucks was evident in the Milwaukee-Los Angeles season series. The teams split their first two games, and Robertson was injured late in the third game. The Lakers rallied to win and then swept the last two games, with Robertson playing at half speed in the fourth contest and not at all in the fifth.

Besides his skills as a passer and scorer, the 6-foot-5 guard, with his strong defense and rebounding, is Milwaukee’s best hope of shutting off the Los Angeles fast break that has carried the Lakers to the most successful regular season in NBA history.

They set a league record with 69 victories, six more than the Bucks, and along the way had an incredible 33-game winning streak, going unbeaten for two straight months before losing to Milwaukee.

They also led the NBA with a 121-point scoring average.

(The Tuscaloosa News. April 9. 1972 http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AV ... 71,1413423)

[Mean_Streets]

Kareem was a monster this season, this very well might have been the best statistical season ever on a 60+ win team (or on any team). On top of that he also anchored the best defense in the league (opponents shot 42% against them in a league average of 45.5%, and a league best 40.5% in the playoffs).

Here are his averages against some of the elite centers of the league during the season:

His five matchups with Cowens, he got:

43/17/2
55/18/3
30/13 (call it an off night)
51/17/7
45/25 (Celtics said pre-game their plan was the "to just hold Jabbar under 50", and I guess they succeeded)

Averages: 44.8 ppg, 18 rpg, 4-5 apg, 57.1 FG%

His five matchups with Wilt in the regular season:

39/17/6
39/20/5
40/18/4
33/12/8
50/8/2

Averages: 40.2 ppg, 15.2 rpg, 5 apg, 51 FG% (Oscar didn't play in most of these games)

In the playoffs here are the stats for Wilt vs. Kareem:

Wilt - 10.8 ppg, 19.3 rpg, 3.3 apg, 45.2 FG%, 44 FT% (probably about a 6-7 block average)
Kareem - 33.7 ppg, 17.5 rpg, 4.8 apg on 45.7 FG%, 84 FT% (probably about 4-5 block average)

Other notes on the series:

- Aggregate stats do hide the fact that Wilt forced Kareem into several poor shooting games. Kareem's shooting by the game was: 14/26, 18/31, 15/37, 14/33, 13/33, 16/37. Kareem averaged 33 FGA in the series, which is an outrageous amount to take against an elite defensive center like Wilt (I doubt anyone has shot over 50% in a 6-7 game playoff series where they averaged 30+ shots, especially against a defensive powerhouse).
- Part of the reason for Kareem's high volume of shots was because Oscar was injured in the series (he only played 5 minutes in the elimination game 6), and part of the reason was Kareem's desire to put up 40 on Wilt every single night (some nights he'd succeed, and some nights he'd shoot poorly). Given how close the series ended up being, this may have been a different series with a healthy Oscar.
- Wilt and West took over in the fourth quarter of game 6 to close out the Bucks. West had 14 pts I believe, Wilt had 9 (off dunks and tip-ins) but his defense on Kareem in that stretch was the real game-changer.
- Kareem played with tendinitis on his "skyhook leg" during the series. He rarely wrapped up his leg, but did so during the series, and judging from the little footage we have of the series, he doesn't have to typical lift on his skyhook: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seEEUwdWapQ&#t=8m38s
- A forgotten hero for the Lakers in this series was Jim McMillian, who had 42 pts in the must win game 2 to lead Lakers to a one point win. Lakers lose that game? They go down 0-2 and go to Milwaukee for next 2 games.
- There was some controversy regarding refereeing. In game 2 (Lakers won by one point), the official missed an over and back on the last play of the game, and then the ball hit the official when it was about to go off on West after Kareem knocked it loose. Bucks stated they were "robbed", and there was a huge discrepancy throughout the series in FT shooting that several newspapers have pointed to. Lakers won every close game, a couple apparently due to favorable refereeing while the Bucks two wins were in blowouts. Bucks actually outscored the Lakers over the series.
- It seems as though everybody shot poorly in this series. Here were the shooting percentages of everyone after 5 games:

Great post. I had no idea Wilt shot such a low FG% vs Kareem in that series considering he shot 65% in the RS. This just confirms Kareem is my #1.

[ElGee]

1972 Si Articles:

Preview Issue
Central: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Atlantic: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Pacific: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Midwest: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
East: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
West: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
ABA-NBA: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Motta feature: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm

Regular Season Articles
Best Team Ever! http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Sharman and LA: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Gilmore: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Lakers streak ends: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Pacers: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Feature on West's career: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Celtics: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm

Playoffs
Preview – West is best: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
New York-Kentucky: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Lakers-Bucks: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Jerry West: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Knicks-Celtics: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Stars-Pacers: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
Lakers win: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
ABA Finals: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm

Roundups:
Mar 28: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
April 4: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
April 11: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
April 18: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm
May 9: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm

[ThaRegul8r]

Milwaukee Journal article after the WCF:

When the Milwaukee Bucks won the National Basketball Association championship a year ago, there was talk that they had a dynasty in the making.

But their dynasty ended before it really began, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s reputation as the greatest center of all time was tarnished in the process.

Abdul-Jabbar failed to outplay either Nate Thurmond of the Golden State Warriors or Wilt Chamberlain of the Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs, and his inability to contain Chamberlain finally made the difference in the Laker series that ended in disaster at the Arena Saturday

Matter of Muscle

In the first round series with the Warriors, Abdul-Jabbar outrebounded Thurmond 95-89, but was outscored, 127-114. The Bucks won the series, four games to one.

In the semifinal series with the Lakers, Abdul-Jabbar had a tremendous edge in scoring, 202-67, but was outrebounded, 116-105, and was outmuscled by a greater margin than that. He actually reached the point on occasion where he was intimidated by Chamberlain as he headed toward the basket, and who ever heard of the big Buck being intimidated?

The Lakers eliminated the Bucks in six games, and the turning point occurred, with the series tied 2-2, when Chamberlain took advantage of his tremendous advantage in weight and strength and began pushing Abdul-Jabbar around. Wilt is listed at 275 pounds but probably weighs 290, to Abdul-Jabbar’s 230.

Perhaps the best illustration of Abdul-Jabbar’s difficulties lay in his shooting averages. He shot .574 in the regular season but only .437 in the playoffs ― .405 against Thurmond and .457 against Chamberlain.

Because of the strong defensive work of his two veteran rivals, Abdul-Jabbar often was forced away from his favorite shooting positions. He took hook shots from 12 to 15 feet away instead of from 8 to 10, and sometimes he even resorted to 15 foot jump shots.

Keep It Up

As Chamberlain put it after the fifth game in Los Angeles, which the Lakers won, 115-90, “Tonight Kareem was taking jump shots. That’s something he doesn’t usually do, but I hope he keeps on doing it.”

Abdul-Jabbar took more jump shots Saturday as the Lakers ended the series with a 104-100 victory, and Bucks Coach Larry Costello said, “I don’t want Kareem taking 15 footers. You do that and you’re just not playing your game.”

But Chamberlain’s dominating presence obviously had much to do with Abdul-Jabbar’s change in tactics, and Wilt’s performance against the man who supposedly had usurped his title as king of the giants must have been one of the most satisfying of his long career.
(Bob Wolf. “Kareem’s Image as Best Suffered in Buck Defeat.” The Milwaukee Journal. 24 Apr. 1972)

[ElGee]

Estimated Pace-Adjusted Stats

Code: Select all

          Pts/75  Reb/75  Ast/75    Rel TS%
Kareem    25.9    12.4    3.4       9.9%
West      20.7    3.4     7.8       4.2%
Haywood   20.0    9.7     1.5       2.3%
Frazier   18.8    5.4     4.7       7.2%
Havlicek  18.4    5.5     5.0       0.8%
Thurmond  15.8    11.9    2.1      -1.2%
Wilt      10.8    14.1    2.9       10.6
ABA
Barry     23.6    5.6     3.1       3.1%
Erving    21.3    12.3    3.1       2.6%
Gilmore   18.6    13.9    2.1       10.1%


Estimated Team Stats (Reflection of TS% for and against):

Code: Select all

             ORtg
Milwaukee    104.7
Los Angeles  104.1
Seattle      100.7
Phoenix      100.6
Kansas City  99.4
New York     98.1
Chicago      97.8
Boston       97.1
Warriors     94.7

             DRtg
Chicago      90.5
Boston       93.0
Los Angeles  93.5
Milwaukee    94.5
Warriors     95.4
Phoenix      95.8
New York     95.9
Seattle      100.3
Kansas City  103.0