1971–72 NBA season
| 1971–72 NBA season | |
|---|---|
| League | National Basketball Association |
| Sport | Basketball |
| Number of games | 82 |
| Number of teams | 17 |
| TV partner(s) | ABC |
| Regular season | |
| Season MVP | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Milwaukee) |
| Top scorer | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Milwaukee) |
| Playoffs | |
| Eastern champions | New York Knicks |
| Eastern runners-up | Boston Celtics |
| Western champions | Los Angeles Lakers |
| Western runners-up | Milwaukee Bucks |
| Finals | |
| Champions | Los Angeles Lakers |
| Runners-up | New York Knicks |
| Finals MVP | Wilt Chamberlain (L.A. Lakers) |
The 1971–72 NBA season was the 26th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers winning the NBA Championship, beating the New York Knicks 4 games to 1 in the NBA Finals.
As the 25th anniversary of the founding of the modern NBA, the league unveiled a new logo, inspired by the logo of Major League Baseball, to commemorate the occasion. It features the white silhouette of a basketball player dribbling, framed by red and blue. Jerry West of the Los Angeles Lakers was used as the model for the logo. Coincidentally, Jerry West would win the only NBA Championship of his career during the season.
The Los Angeles Lakers came into the season returning a veteran squad from their playoff run a year before. Nine games into the season, aging and oft injured Elgin Baylor announced his retirement after 13 seasons. He was replaced at the starting small forward spot by Jim McMillian, who would go on to average 18 points per game, third best on the team. Despite Baylor's retirement, the Lakers went on a 33-game winning streak. The Lakers completed two undefeated months, going 14–0 in November and 16–0 in December. After winning their first three games in January, the Lakers lost 120–104 to the Milwaukee Bucks. On March 20, 1972, the Lakers beat Golden State by a record 63 points (162–99), a mark that would stand until 1991, when Cleveland beat Miami by 68 points (148–80). The Lakers finished the season with a record 69 wins, which would stand until the 1995–96 season when the Chicago Bulls won 72 regular season games.
The defending champion Milwaukee Bucks won 63 games on the play of renamed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, formerly Lew Alcindor, and Oscar Robertson. The Celtics, led by second year center Dave Cowens, point guard Jo Jo White and 32-year-old swingman John Havlicek won the Atlantic Division with 56 wins. Boston had recovered from the retirement of Bill Russell, K. C. Jones and Sam Jones by winning 12 more games than the previous season.
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