Los Angeles Lakers: A history
The Lakers were founded in 1948 and named after Minnesota. They were named after Minnesota because it was the land of ten thousand lakes. The Lakers have become a great franchise because of their player and their great sportsmanship. Pro Basketball has been around since 1898, only seven years after the game was invented.
The Lakers hired John Kundla as their first coach from Saint Thomas College. The Lakers then won the 1948 NBL Championship. The next year the team moved to BAA (which is another basketball league) and also won the Championship. In 1979 they moved to California. The old Lakers owner traded the team, The Forum and the Kings to Jerry Buss for a 70 million dollar deal.
After the purchase, Jerry Buss wanted the Laker games to be the most exciting event in Los Angeles, so he introduced the Laker girls dance team. This attracted many viewers. In their half century of basketball, the Lakers have had many outstanding players and many memorable games. This has made many Los Angeles residences die hard fans.
Their team colors are, purple gold and white. They have played in many world wide arenas. The following arenas are, Minneapolis Auditorium, Minneapolis Armory, L.A. Memorial Sports Arena and the Los Angeles Forum. The Lakers currently play at the Staple Center located in down town Los Angeles. Which can hold up to18,997 people per game.
The NBA was formed in 1949 and the current coach of the Los Angeles Lakers is Phil Jackson. The Lakers have 14 championships, 29 conference titles and 28 division titles. They are currently in the Pacific Division, also in the Western conference. The Lakers are currently in the NBA finals vs the Boston Celtics.
Some of the Lakers best memories began on, November 5th when the Lakers beat Baltimore and went onto winning 32 more games in a row. They lost their first game on January 9th to the Milwaukee Bucks ending their 32 game winning streak. In one of the many playoff games. In the playoffs the Lakers swept the Bulls. In the finals the Lakers played the Knicks. New York won the first game but that was it. The Lakers reeled off 4 straight victory wins.
In 2000, 2001 and 2002 the Lakers wons back to back Championships. The Laker bacame the NBA’s first Champions in the 1949 -50 season. In 1984 through 1985 Lakers finally beat the Boston Celtics in the finals. Over the years the Lakers have had many all star players on the team.
The Lakers have one of the most exciting players, who is known as now MVP player Kobe Bryant. Bryant rose to national prominence in 1996 when he became the first guard in league history to be drafted out of high school. Bryant and then-teammate Shaquille O’Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002.
Since O’Neal’s departure following the 2003-04 season, Bryant has become the cornerstone of the Lakers franchise, and was the NBA’s leading scorer during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. In 2006, Bryant scored a career high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, the second highest number of points scored in NBA history. He was awarded the season’s MVP in the 2007-08 NBA season after leading his team to the 2008 NBA Playoffs as the first seed in the Western Conference.
In 2003, Bryant made headlines when he was accused of sexual assault at a ski resort in Eagle, Colorado by a hotel employee. Bryant admitted an adulterous sexual encounter with the accuser, but denied the sexual assault allegation. In September 2004, prosecutors dropped the case after his accuser informed them that she was unwilling to testify. Bryant’s accuser brought a separate civil suit against him that was ultimately settled out of court.
Later in the season, it was reported that Bryant would change his jersey number from 8 to 24 at the start of the 2006-07 NBA season. Bryant’s first high school number was 24 before he switched to 33. After the Lakers’ season ended, Bryant said on TNT that he wanted 24 as a rookie, but it was unavailable, as was 33, retired with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bryant wore 143 at the Adidas ABCD camp, and chose 8 by adding those numbers.
During the 2006-07 season, Bryant was selected to his 9th All-Star Game appearance, and on February 18, he logged 31 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 6 steals, earning his second career All-Star Game MVP trophy.
Here are some of the well known players in the Laker history. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlin, Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Jerry West. Jerry West became the only player in the NBA on the loosing team of the finals to win the MVP award. This is to show you how good the players were on the team, even though they lost. Jerry West picture is the NBA logo. It was taken when he was in college.
The Los Angles Lakers are the 2nd most valuable team in the U.S.A., valued at 568 million dollars. They also have the 2nd most Championship following Boston. The Lakers are notable for having (at the end of the 2005-06) the most wins (2,905), the highest winning percentage (61.5%), the most finals appearances (28) of any NBA franchise, Lakers are still continuing their legacy and keeping their fans happy and proud. I’m proud to say that I’m a die hard Laker fan.
Sources
www.wikipedia.org
The Los Angeles Lakers Basketball Team By William W. Lace
www.nba.com/lakers/history/history.html#36
