Los Angeles Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers

American basketball team
 American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers are one of the most successful and popular professional franchises in all American sports. The franchise has won a combined 14 Basketball Association of America (BAA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) titles, second in league history only to their rival the Boston Celtics.

 The franchise that would become the Lakers was founded in 1946 as the Detroit Gems and played in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team moved to Minneapolis, Minn., in 1947, and its name was changed to the Lakers to reflect the Minnesota state nickname, “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” That same year the Lakers acquired George Mikan (Mikan, George), who became professional basketball's first dominantbig manand the first in a series of great Laker centres. The Lakers joined the BAAthe official precursor of the NBAfor the 194849 season and won the final BAA championship. The NBA was formed in 1949, and Mikan and the Lakers won four of the first five league titles.

      Attendance at Lakers games fell after Mikan's retirement in 1956, and the team moved to Los Angeles before the 196061 season. The Lakers advanced to the NBA finals six times in the 1960s but lost to the Celtics in each appearance despite the presence of future Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor (Baylor, Elgin) and Jerry West. During the 197172 season, however, the Lakersled by West, Gail Goodrich, and Wilt Chamberlain (Chamberlain, Wilt)—set NBA records for longest winning streak (33 games) and best regular season record (6913; broken in 1996 by the Chicago Bulls) on their way to the NBA championship, the team's first title since relocating to Los Angeles.

      The Lakers entered the most dominant period in their franchise history when they selected Magic Johnson (Johnson, Magic) in the first overall pick of the 1979 NBA draft. Johnson teamed with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem) and (from 1982) James Worthy to take the Lakers to eight appearances in the NBA finals over the following decade, resulting in five NBA championships (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1988). This era became known as ‘‘Showtime, " not only for the flamboyant, often spectacular playing style orchestrated by Johnson and polished head coach Pat Riley but also for the courtside presence of Hollywood stars, most notably Jack Nicholson (Nicholson, Jack). Additionally, the renewed Lakers-Celtics rivalrythe two teams facing off for the NBA title in 1984, 1985, and 1987 and, more specifically, Johnson's battles with Boston's Larry Bird (Bird, Larry)—propelled the NBA to new levels of popularity in the 1980s.

 After Abdul-Jabbar's retirement in 1989 and Johnson's in 1991, the Lakers' fortunes took a turn for the worse. The team still regularly made the play-offsthe Lakers missed postseason play only five times in the team's first 60 seasonsbut failed to advance to the NBA finals for the longest period of time in team history. That changed during the 19992000 season, however, when newly hired head coach Phil Jackson guided the Lakers, featuring Shaquille O'Neal (O'Neal, Shaquille) and Kobe Bryant (Bryant, Kobe), to the first of three consecutive titles. O'Neal was traded away in 2004, but a reconfigured Laker team advanced to the 2008 NBA finals, which they lost to Boston in six games.
 

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Los Angeles Lakers — Lakers de Los Angeles Lakers de Los Angeles …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Los Angeles Lakers — Gründung 1946 Geschichte Detroit Gems 1946–1947 Minneapolis Lakers 1947–1960 Los Angeles Lakers seit 1960 Stadion …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Los Angeles Lakers — son un euipo de baloncesto de la NBA con base en Los Angeles, California. Destacan por tener la mayor cantidad de victorias en la historia (>2621), con el mejor porcentaje de victorias(61.9%), el mayor número de aparición el las finales(28), y …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Los Angeles Lakers — 2011–12 Los Angeles Lakers season …   Wikipedia

  • Los Angeles Lakers — Conferencia Conferencia Oeste División División …   Wikipedia Español

  • Los Angeles Lakers seasons — The Los Angeles Lakers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California who play in the National Basketball Association (NBA), formerly called the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The Lakers played their home games at… …   Wikipedia

  • Los Angeles Lakers accomplishments and records — This page details the all time statistics, records, and other achievements pertaining to the Los Angeles Lakers.In 1997, the NBA announced a list of the 50 best players in its history, and of them, eight played all or significant portions of… …   Wikipedia

  • Los Angeles Lakers all-time roster — The following is a list of players, both past and current, who appeared at least in one game for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA franchise. NOTOC ADGJMPTWY …   Wikipedia

  • Historia de Los Angeles Lakers — El Staples Center durante un partido de los Lakers. Los Angeles Lakers, equipo de baloncesto de la NBA, fue fundado en 1946, y es una de las franquicias más exitosas de la historia de la liga. Actualmente es el equipo con más victorias (2.806),… …   Wikipedia Español

  • History of the Los Angeles Lakers — The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, predating the formation of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Founded in 1947, the Lakers are one of the NBA s most famous and successful franchises. As of summer 2010, the… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
https://universalium.en-academic.com/276926/Los_Angeles_Lakers Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”