1968–69 Los Angeles Lakers season

The 1968–69 NBA season was the Lakers' 21st season in the NBA and ninth season in Los Angeles. This season saw the Lakers acquire Wilt Chamberlain from the Philadelphia 76ers in a trade that sent Jerry Chambers, Archie Clark, and Darrall Imhoff to the 76ers.

1968–69 Los Angeles Lakers season
Division champions
Head coachButch van Breda Kolff
General managerFred Schaus
Owner(s)Jack Kent Cooke
ArenaThe Forum
Results
Record55–27 (.671)
PlaceDivision: 1st (Western)
Playoff finishNBA Finals
(lost to Celtics 3–4)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
TelevisionKTLA
RadioKNX

The Lakers would make it to the NBA Finals, but would lose to the Boston Celtics in seven games despite being the heavy favorites. This marked the Lakers' seventh consecutive defeat to the Celtics in the NBA Finals.

Jerry West, who averaged nearly 38 points per game in the Finals, became the inaugural recipient of the Finals Most Valuable Player award. To date he is the only player in NBA history to win the award as a member of the losing team.

Offseason

Draft picks
Round Pick Player Position Nationality College
1 11 Bill Hewitt (PF)  United States USC

Roster
1968–69 Los Angeles Lakers roster
Players Coaches
Pos.No.NameHeightWeightDOBFrom
SG 30 Anderson, Cliff 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1944-09-07 Saint Joseph's
SF 22 Baylor, Elgin (C) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1934-09-16 Seattle
PF 52 Carty, Jay 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1941-07-04 Oregon State
C 13 Chamberlain, Wilt (C) 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 275 lb (125 kg) 1936-08-21 Kansas
PF 31 Counts, Mel 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1941-10-16 Oregon State
SG 12 Crawford, Freddie 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 189 lb (86 kg) 1941-12-33 St. Bonaventure
PG 21 Egan, Johnny 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1939-01-31 Providence
SG 24 Erickson, Keith 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1944-04-19 UCLA
SF 33 Hawkins, Tom 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1936-12-22 Notre Dame
PF 30 Hewitt, Bill 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1944-08-08 USC
PG 44 West, Jerry (C) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1938-05-28 West Virginia
Head coach
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured Injured

Roster
Last transaction: October 17, 1968

Regular season

Season standings
Western Division
 W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
x-Los Angeles Lakers 5527.671–32–921–182–030–10
x-Atlanta Hawks 4834.585728–1218–212–126–14
x-San Francisco Warriors 4141.5001422–1918–211–120–20
x-San Diego Rockets 3745.4511825–168–254–420–20
Chicago Bulls 3349.4022219–2112–252–319–21
Seattle SuperSonics 3052.3662518–186–296–515–23
Phoenix Suns 1666.1953911–264–281–128–30

Record vs. opponents
1968-69 NBA Records
Team ATL BAL BOS CHI CIN DET LAL MIL NYK PHI PHO SDR SFW SEA
Atlanta –2–43–36–14–26–03–44–22–41–56–03–44–34–2
Baltimore 4–2–5–26–04–37–03–35–13–42–46–05–13–34–2
Boston 3–32–5–4–25–25–12–45–11–65–26–04–23–33–3
Chicago 1–60–62–4–1–53–33–45–12–41–54–23–34–34–3
Cincinnati 2–43–42–55–1–3–42–45–14–23–44–22–43–33–3
Detroit 0–60–71–53–34–3–3–32–43–43–44–23–32–44–2
Los Angeles 4–33–34–24–34–23–3–5–15–11–56–07–04–35–1
Milwaukee 2–41–51–51–51–54–21–5–0–60–66–24–23–33–5
New York 4–24–36–14–22–44–31–56–0–4–35–13–35–16–0
Philadelphia 5–14–22–55–14–34–35–16–03–4–5–14–22–46–0
Phoenix 0–60–60–62–42–42–40–62–61–51–5–1–72–43–3
San Diego 4–31–52–43–34–23–30–72–43–32–47–1–3–33–3
San Francisco 3–43–33–33–43–34–23–43–31–54–24–23–3–4–3
Seattle 2–42–43–33–43–32–41–55–30–60–63–33–33–4—

Game log
1968–69 game log
#DateOpponentScoreHigh pointsRecord
1October 18@ Philadelphia96–114Elgin Baylor (36)0–1
2October 19@ New York118–96Wilt Chamberlain (29)1–1
3October 22@ Cincinnati103–107Elgin Baylor (35)1–2
4October 23@ Detroit110–117Elgin Baylor (31)1–3
5October 25Baltimore111–117Jerry West (34)2–3
6October 27San Diego116–152Elgin Baylor (32)3–3
7October 29Atlanta124–125Elgin Baylor (28)4–3
8November 1Chicago114–101Wilt Chamberlain (29)4–4
9November 3@ Phoenix127–109Elgin Baylor (40)5–4
10November 5@ Chicago112–109 (OT)Elgin Baylor (31)6–4
11November 6N Milwaukee115–128Elgin Baylor (33)7–4
12November 8New York100–102Jerry West (29)8–4
13November 10New York109–130Elgin Baylor (26)9–4
14November 15San Diego119–127Jerry West (34)10–4
15November 16@ San Francisco119–112Jerry West (37)11–4
16November 17Seattle94–105Elgin Baylor (26)12–4
17November 19Boston106–116Elgin Baylor (30)13–4
18November 22San Francisco100–98Jerry West (23)13–5
19November 24Chicago100–103Elgin Baylor (35)14–5
20November 26@ New York100–104Wilt Chamberlain (23)14–6
21November 28@ Philadelphia107–122Elgin Baylor (32)14–7
22November 29@ Boston93–92Elgin Baylor (19)15–7
23December 1Milwaukee112–119Elgin Baylor (34)16–7
24December 3Phoenix108–122Wilt Chamberlain (35)17–7
25December 5@ Baltimore90–108Jerry West (20)17–8
26December 6@ Atlanta99–94Elgin Baylor (30)18–8
27December 7@ Chicago81–90Jerry West (27)18–9
28December 8San Diego118–132Wilt Chamberlain (35)19–9
29December 13Atlanta105–103Elgin Baylor (25)19–10
30December 14@ Seattle136–120Johnny Egan (26)20–10
31December 15Seattle114–115Jerry West (28)21–10
32December 17Cincinnati108–112Jerry West (36)22–10
33December 20San Francisco101–133Elgin Baylor (25)23–10
34December 22Philadelphia99–102Jerry West (27)24–10
35December 25@ Phoenix119–99Jerry West (26)25–10
36December 26@ Detroit95–94Jerry West (29)26–10
37December 28@ Chicago86–93Jerry West (27)26–11
38December 29Detroit108–111Jerry West (34)27–11
39December 30@ San Diego131–126 (OT)Jerry West (40)28–11
40December 31Detroit127–107Jerry West (29)28–12
41January 3@ Philadelphia101–130Keith Erickson (20)28–13
42January 4@ Atlanta121–111Keith Erickson (30)29–13
43January 7@ Baltimore100–93Elgin Baylor (30)30–13
44January 10@ Boston82–88Elgin Baylor (21)30–14
45January 11@ Atlanta100–104Elgin Baylor (25)30–15
46January 17Cincinnati107–128Chamberlain, West (27)31–15
47January 19Cincinnati117–132Elgin Baylor (34)32–15
48January 21@ Milwaukee122–105Jerry West (44)33–15
49January 22@ Detroit115–116Jerry West (28)33–16
50January 24@ Atlanta106–110Elgin Baylor (34)33–17
51January 26N Cincinnati126–113Wilt Chamberlain (60)34–17
52January 28Chicago118–125Jerry West (28)35–17
53January 29@ San Diego122–120Wilt Chamberlain (30)36–17
54January 31Milwaukee104–105Elgin Baylor (33)37–17
55February 1@ San Francisco106–101 (OT)Elgin Baylor (34)38–17
56February 2San Francisco122–117 (3OT)Mel Counts (31)38–18
57February 3@ Seattle107–114Wilt Chamberlain (33)38–19
58February 7Philadelphia109–106Jerry West (34)38–20
59February 8@ Phoenix122–104Elgin Baylor (30)39–20
60February 9Phoenix116–134Wilt Chamberlain (66)40–20
61February 12@ Seattle109–92Wilt Chamberlain (32)41–20
62February 14San Diego109–115Johnny Egan (28)42–20
63February 16@ Milwaukee97–106Wilt Chamberlain (29)42–21
64February 18@ New York113–109Wilt Chamberlain (31)43–21
65February 19@ Baltimore88–110Wilt Chamberlain (26)43–22
66February 21Boston124–102Wilt Chammberlain (35)43–23
67February 23Philadelphia125–121Wilt Chamberlain (36)43–24
68February 25Seattle111–114 (OT)Mel Counts (23)44–24
69February 28Phoenix117–121Elgin Baylor (31)45–24
70March 1@ San Diego119–113Elgin Baylor (37)46–24
71March 2San Francisco92–107Jerry West (20)47–24
72March 4Baltimore116–108Jerry West (29)47–25
73March 7Boston99–105 (OT)Elgin Baylor (34)48–25
74March 9Baltimore109–120Jerry West (34)49–25
75March 11Detroit101–137Wilt Chamberlain (34)50–25
76March 12@ San Francisco85–97Jerry West (28)50–26
77March 14Milwaukee103–111Jerry West (23)51–26
78March 16@ Boston108–73Bill Hewitt (19)52–26
79March 18@ Chicago93–92Jerry West (28)53–26
80March 19@ Cincinnati128–136 (OT)Baylor, West (28)53–27
81March 21Atlanta103–116Elgin Baylor (21)54–27
82March 23New York111–128Jerry West (34)55–27

Playoffs
1969 playoff game log
Division Semi-finals: 4–2 (home: 1–2; road: 3–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Series
1 March 26 San Francisco L 94–99 Jerry West (36) Wilt Chamberlain (30) Jerry West (7) The Forum
10,697		 0–1
2 March 28 San Francisco L 101–107 Jerry West (36) Wilt Chamberlain (17) Jerry West (11) The Forum
15,119		 0–2
3 March 31 @ San Francisco W 115–98 Jerry West (25) Wilt Chamberlain (28) Jerry West (9) Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena
13,221		 1–2
4 April 2 @ San Francisco W 103–88 Jerry West (36) Wilt Chamberlain (14) Jerry West (5) Cow Palace
14,812		 2–2
5 April 4 San Francisco W 103–98 Jerry West (29) Wilt Chamberlain (27) Jerry West (13) The Forum
17,309		 3–2
6 April 5 @ San Francisco W 118–78 Jerry West (29) Wilt Chamberlain (25) Jerry West (8) Cow Palace
8,924		 4–2
Division finals: 4–1 (home: 3–0; road: 1–1)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Series
1 April 11 @ Atlanta W 95–93 Jerry West (25) Wilt Chamberlain (29) Baylor, Egan (6) The Forum
16,190		 1–0
2 April 13 Atlanta W 104–102 Wilt Chamberlain (23) Wilt Chamberlain (29) Johnny Egan (11) The Forum
15,136		 2–0
3 April 15 @ Atlanta L 86–99 Johnny Egan (19) Wilt Chamberlain (22) West, Baylor (4) Alexander Memorial Coliseum
7,140		 2–1
4 April 17 @ Atlanta W 100–85 Wilt Chamberlain (25) Wilt Chamberlain (19) Jerry West (5) Alexander Memorial Coliseum
7,140		 3–1
5 April 20 Atlanta W 104–96 Elgin Baylor (29) Wilt Chamberlain (29) Elgin Baylor (12) The Forum
16,273		 4–1
NBA Finals: 3–4 (home: 3–1; road: 0–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation
Attendance		Series
1 April 23 Boston W 120–118 Jerry West (53) Wilt Chamberlain (23) Jerry West (10) The Forum
17,554		 1–0
2 April 25 Boston W 118–112 Jerry West (41) Wilt Chamberlain (19) Egan, West (8) The Forum
17,559		 2–0
3 April 27 @ Boston L 105–111 Jerry West (24) Wilt Chamberlain (26) Jerry West (6) Boston Garden
14,037		 2–1
4 April 29 @ Boston L 88–89 Jerry West (40) Wilt Chamberlain (31) West, Baylor (4) Boston Garden
15,128		 2–2
5 May 1 Boston W 117–104 Jerry West (39) Wilt Chamberlain (31) Jerry West (9) The Forum
17,553		 3–2
6 May 3 @ Boston L 90–99 West, Baylor (26) Wilt Chamberlain (18) Wilt Chamberlain (4) Boston Garden
15,128		 3–3
7 May 5 Boston L 106–108 Jerry West (42) Wilt Chamberlain (27) Jerry West (12) The Forum
17,568		 3–4
1969 schedule

Awards

References
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.