Los Angeles Lakers 2009 Playoffs
The Los Angeles Lakers franchise history is one giant legacy. The team started as champions in the early years of the NBA with George Mikan as the first super star. The club won five championships with him at center in the late 1940s and the early 1950s. Great players would become a tradition for the team, but during the Celtics decade of domination that would not mean championships. Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, and Jerry West alone could not take the team over the top, but when those types of players worked together special things happened. Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain brought the Lakers back to championship status in 1972 after an incredible 69-13 season. Lakers Playoff tickets had been a staple in Los Angeles, but winning the big games in the postseason had been a lost tradition.
The Showtime Lakers ran the break and the league in the 1980s with five NBA Championships and the Combination of Kobe Bryant and Shaq proved too much for any team to stop from 1999 to 2002. Those seasons found the Lakers with a two superstars and a number of role players gelling under the leadership of head coach Phil Jackson. The championships helped Los Angeles play home to a dynasty at the Staples Center. Playoff tickets were never in doubt, no matter how lackadaisical the team played during the long regular season schedule. They became everybody’s favorite team to hate.
Los Angeles Lakers Background
The team fell apart as the relationship between Shaq and Kobe deteriorated. The result was a championship for Shaq in Miami with his new buddy Dwayne Wade and a rebuilding effort centered around Kobe in Los Angeles. At first Lakers playoff tickets were I doubt, but Kobe’s skill and determination guaranteed those. Los Angeles gave Bryant a cast last season that could once again take the team to a dynasty run.
Bryant now has Andrew Bynum blossoming as the new center at the age of 20, Pau Gasol freshly saved from the basketball wasteland known as the Grizzlies, and the versatile Lamar Odom. The stars create a conundrum few teams can solve, how do you guard these guys? With Derek Fisher there to hit the open three, it is almost impossible to double team anybody. Bryant and company are looking at assured playoff tickets in a conference where nothing is guaranteed and expectations that put them in the NBA Finals for a rematch with the Boston Celtics.