1987-88 Lakers become the first team to win two straight titles.
1987-88 Lakers become the first team to win two straight titles.
No NBA team had won two straight Championships since the Boston Celtics
proved it possible in 1968 and 1969. Many believed that the league's expansion
had spread the talent pool so widely that repeating had become nearly
impossible. Pat Riley disagreed with that theory. Not satisfied with the Lakers'
position as the team that won four titles in the 1980's, he decided that
back-to-back titles would stamp his team one of the best in history. So, the day
after the 1987 Finals victory, Riley guaranteed fans that they would repeat that
success.
The Lakers fashioned the NBA's best record at 62-20, with Byron Scott (21.7
ppg) and James Worthy (19.7 ppg) taking a great load of the scoring from Magic
and Jabbar. Mychal Thompson, A.C. Green, Michael Cooper and Kurt Rambis made
important contributions to the team.
As the Lakers drove to defend the title, a new challenger was rising in the
East. Boston won an East-high 57 games, but Detroit, which had pushed the
Celtics to the Finals the previous year, won 54 games. General Manager Jack
McCloskey and coach Chuck Daly had gathered a team consisting of Isiah Thomas,
Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn, Adrian Dantley, Joe Dumars, and Vinnie Johnson, and
young, aggressive forwards Dennis Rodman and John Salley.
Detroit went through the first three Playoffs rounds with an 11-5 record , and
the Lakers 11-6. The Pistons defeated Boston, winning two of three games at
Boston Garden. The Lakers wone over Dallas in seven hard games with the home
team winning each time. In the Finals, Los Angeles needed every bit of its
homecourt advantage, coming back from a 3-2 deficit to win two close games and
defend their Championship.
Thomas' performance forces the seventh game. Isiah Thomas had proved not
only that he was the top guard or the top little man, but that he was the top
player in the league. He had entered the Detroit team after Detroit had a weak,
21-61 season. In its third season, Detroit got a new coach - Chuck Daly, who
knew how to take advantage of Thomas' strengths, so he started to build a team
around him. Although Detroit lost the 1988 Finals in seven games, Thomas' play
in Game 6 made him a legend. Having a serious ankle injury, Thomas 43 points, 25
of which in the third quarter, establishing an NBA Finals record.
"What Isiah Thomas did in the second half was just incredible," stated Lakers
coach Pat Riley.
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