Los Angeles Lakers: Top 10 duos in franchise history

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(Original Caption) December 22, 1971 – Baltimore: Jerry West drives up the middle and scores in 1st period of Laker 127-120 win over Bullets. West scored 37 points in game that was 27th consecutive win for the Lakers. The Laker victory set an all time consecutive win record for all of pro sports, the 1916 N.Y. baseball Giants had held the old record of 26 consecutive wins. Wilt Chamberlain (#13) and Phil Chenier (#45) of Bullets. /

3. Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain (1971-72) – 29.1 combined win shares, 20.8 average PER

Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain were some of the NBA’s first superstar and most recognizable players. Even though Jerry West played in Los Angeles, he grew up in West Virginia and his personality embodied hard work and consistency.

On the contrary, Chamberlain had been waiting to get to Hollywood his whole career because he was the biggest personality the game had ever seen.

By the time they were paired together, they were both already All-Star players and both had played in the Finals. Yet they were never more dominant than when they played together the 1971-72 season.

That year the Lakers won a franchise-record 69 games, which was an NBA record until the Bulls broke it in 1995-96 and the Warriors broke it again in 2015-16. They also set an NBA record with 33 straight victories and won their first NBA title in 18 seasons. It was even more satisfying because it was West’s first NBA title and they had lost the three NBA finals prior to that season.

This combo has an argument for the top spot on this list because they combined for the second most win shares out of any Lakers duo ever and produced the best season in terms of wins in Lakers history.

The reason why it is not higher on the list is that West and Chamberlain were both older players at the time of this season, and Chamberlain, in particular, was way past his prime. Other stars like Baylor and Goodrich had more of an impact on this teams win total than the next two pairings supporting casts, so that justifies their position.

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