1970s Top Team Tourney Ro32, '77 Lakers @ '73 Knicks

[sansterre]

Don't forget, the home team for the series only benefits from that designation for Game 7. The rankings for these teams are out of 37 (because there are 37 teams in the 1970s tourney). The player stats are SS (ShotShare, percentage of team's shots taken when on the court), and the slash stats are rebounds per game, assists per game and stocks per game (if applicable), all adjusted to a Pace of 100.

The 1977 Los Angeles Lakers (#29) @ The 1973 New York Knicks (#4)

Overall:

Record: ‘73 Knicks, 57 wins (13th) > '77 Lakers, 53 wins (22nd)
RSRS: ‘73 Knicks, +6.07 (12th) > ‘77 Lakers, +2.64 (31st)
PSRS: '73 Knicks, +11.83 (4th) > ‘77 Lakers, +4.20 (25th)

When the '77 Lakers have Possession:

Overall Comparison, '77 Lakers' offense vs '73 Knicks’ defense:

Regular Season: +1.9 Offensive Rating (18th) vs -4.3 Defensive Rating (8th): -2.4 expected
Playoffs: +0.8 Offensive Rating (27th) vs -2.7 Defensive Rating (21st): -1.9 expected

Lineup:

PG: Lucius Allen, 21.5% SS on -1.4% rTS, 3.1 / 5.0 / 1.6: -1.9 playoff OBPM
SG: Don Chaney, 10.9% SS on -7.1% rTS, 3.9 / 3.6 / 2.0: -1.1 playoff OBPM
SF: Cazzie Russell, 23.0% SS on +1.6% rTS, 3.4 / 2.5 / 1.1: -0.3 playoff OBPM
PF: Don Ford, 16.1% SS on -2.6% rTS, 4.1 / 1.5 / 1.0: +0.6 playoff OBPM
C: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 27.3% SS on +9.7% rTS, 12.7 / 3.7 / 4.2: +9.6 playoff OBPM
6th: Earl Tatum, 24.3% SS on -2.1% rTS, 3.3 / 1.6 / 1.5: +0.7 playoff OBPM


When the '73 Knicks have Possession:

Overall Comparison, '73 Knicks' offense vs '77 Lakers' defense:

Regular Season: +2.1 Offensive Rating (16th) vs -0.6 Defensive Rating (35th): +1.5 expected
Playoffs: +8.3 Offensive Rating (1st) vs -2.1 Defensive Rating (26th): +6.2 expected

Lineup:

PG: Walt Frazier, 22.4% SS on +3.6% rTS, 19.9 / 6.9 / 5.6
SG: Earl Monroe, 21.6% SS on +2.7% rTS, 14.6 / 3.1 / 3.6
SF: Bill Bradley, 20.6% SS on -0.5% rTS, 15.2 / 3.5 / 4.2
PF: Dave DeBusschere, 21.9% SS on -2.8% rTS, 15.4 / 9.6 / 3.2
C: Willis Reed, 18.7% SS on +0.2% rTS, 10.4 / 8.1 / 1.7
6th: Jerry Lucas, 15.1% SS on +4.2% rTS, 9.3 / 6.8 / 4.2

Discussion Questions:

*Injuries: Lucius Allen will miss games 4-6 for the Lakers.
*We’ve already talked about the ‘77 Lakers. They’re a ridiculously thin roster made even thinner by Lucius Allen missing much of the series. But ‘77 Kareem is in the running for the best postseason big . . . ever. The Knicks faced very capable big men in their run (Unseld, Cowens and a 36 year-old Wilt) but they faced nothing remotely like ‘77 Kareem. Yeah the Knicks have strong defenders (Reed & DeBusschere) but both were at the tail-end of their career. The Is there any chance that Kareem can lead the Lakers to a win? Of a game or a series? I’ll take either.
*The ‘73 Knicks existed just after a massive expansion of the league, so we have to take their dominance with a grain of salt. And in the regular season other teams (the Celtics, Bucks and Lakers) seemed slightly better. But in the playoffs the Knicks carved through everyone. They crushed a solid Bullets team in five by 8 points a game and they reasonably rolled past the Lakers in five by 4 points a game. Two pretty dominant showings. Their only asterisk is that against the ‘73 Celtics (who were, in fairness, really good); they were taken to 7 games and that was with the Celtics losing Havlicek for some of the series. But either way, it’s clear we’re looking at a damned good team. It paired two of the most resilient scoring guards of the era, Frazier and Monroe, both of whom shot at an adjusted +8% rTS or higher through the playoffs against a slate of really nasty defenses. If the ‘73 Knicks’ scorers can overcome really, really strong defenses like that, do we have any reason to think that the ‘77 Lakers can slow them down? Like, at all?


I’m going to put this up for 48 hours, unless I need to keep it open for a tie-breaker.

Post with who you would pick to win this series, ideally with the number of games. And if you have any insight into these players or matchups beyond what is above please don't hesitate to post; the goal (as always) is for us all to walk away with more knowledge than we started with. We always have more to learn!

MasterThread

[sansterre]

Spoiler:

[penbeast0]

These Lakers are healthier than the last ones and Reed was injured part of the time, but the Knicks match up really well otherwise and doubled the post very well. I see Knicks in 6.

[70sFan]

This gap in talent can't be overcome by any level of individual greatness. I'm sure that Kareem would dominate anyway, but Knicks are way too deep and well coached for Lakers.

Knicks in 5.

[wojoaderge]

These Lakers are healthier than the last ones

With two missing starters, not by very much . . .

Having Kermit Washington would help them less against these Knicks than against the '77 Blazers, but he still certainly would have helped. I say the Lakers can win at least one of the games that Allen plays. If some combination of Cazzie Russell, Earl Tatum, and/or Johnny Neumann can successfully attack the weaker spots in the Knicks defense, they can win another. So i'm gonna say the Knicks in 5 (or possibly 6).

[homecourtloss]

This gap in talent can't be overcome by any level of individual greatness. I'm sure that Kareem would dominate anyway, but Knicks are way too deep and well coached for Lakers.

Knicks in 5.

Pretty much this. Knicks in 5 with two close wins and two solid wins.

[sansterre]

I just don't see the injured Lakers challenging the '73 Knicks in any serious way. Granted that the '73 Knicks are probably a little inflated by their proximity to expansion, but it's not like these two teams are close.

Knicks in 5.

[Odinn21]

I think the votes are bit too harsh. I'm not going to say the Lakers would win because well, they just wouldn't.

Rookie Kareem with similar cast played against the Knicks in 1970 when the Knicks were much better than their '73 version and he still stole 1 game away from the Knicks. I don't think peak Kareem would steal only 1 game.

Vote: Knicks in 6. (I wanted to say 7 but Allen missing games 4-6 didn't help.)

[sansterre]

'73 Knicks take this 6-0. They advance to face the winner of the '76 Celtics and the '78 Sixers. I'll have the next one up in a sec.

[70sFan]

I think the votes are bit too harsh. I'm not going to say the Lakers would win because well, they just wouldn't.

Rookie Kareem with similar cast played against the Knicks in 1970 when the Knicks were much better than their '73 version and he still stole 1 game away from the Knicks. I don't think peak Kareem would steal only 1 game.

Vote: Knicks in 6. (I wanted to say 7 but Allen missing games 4-6 didn't help.)

To be fair, Bucks team was much more talented even in 1970 vs 1977 Lakers. Having Dandridge alone should be enough, but they also had Flynn Robinson, Jon McGlocklin and Greg Smith who all were arguably better than Kareem's best teammate in 1977. Sure, Flynn got shut down by Frazier but can you imagine Lakers abysmal backcourt against Frazier pressure? It wouldn't be pretty.