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Los Angeles Lakers: Best Western Conference Finals in team history

By Jason Reed

Peja Stojakovic (R) and Scot Pollard (L) of the Sacramento Kings defend against Shaquille O'Neal (C) of the Los Angeles Lakers during 3rd quarter action of Game 6 in their Western Conference Finals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles 31 May 2002. The Kings lead the best-of-seven series 3-2. AFP PHOTO/Matt SIMON (Photo by MATT SIMON / AFP) (Photo credit should read MATT SIMON/AFP via Getty Images)
Peja Stojakovic (R) and Scot Pollard (L) of the Sacramento Kings defend against Shaquille O'Neal (C) of the Los Angeles Lakers during 3rd quarter action of Game 6 in their Western Conference Finals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles 31 May 2002. The Kings lead the best-of-seven series 3-2. AFP PHOTO/Matt SIMON (Photo by MATT SIMON / AFP) (Photo credit should read MATT SIMON/AFP via Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

The Los Angeles Lakers have some great Western Conference Finals performances.

The Los Angeles Lakers have the second-most NBA Championships in league history and are arguably the most decorated team in league history because of the franchise’s star power and multiple championship-winning eras.

The 2019-2020 Lakers were looking to etch their name in the history books as they were on a path to give the franchise championship number 17 to tie the Boston Celtics. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, that path has been derailed.

We don’t know if the season is going to continue but what we do know is that if the season was never paused, we would currently be in the Western Conference Finals, likely watching a battle between the two Los Angeles teams.

As we have in the first two rounds, we decided to give our readers something to cure that playoff basketball itch and look back at the five best Western Conference Finals in franchise history.

Los Angeles Lakers best Western Conference Finals: 5. 1972 vs. Milwaukee

A lot of current Laker fans were either not alive or not old enough to remember this 1972 series against the Milwaukee Bucks and on paper, it is not as special as the other four on this list. Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich squared off against future Laker legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a series that went six games.

Although it was not prime Wilt, the battle between Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar was a battle of the most dominant player in the league in the 1960s and the most dominant player of the 1970s. Chamberlain averaged 10.8 points and 19.3 rebounds in 45.8 minutes per game.

Kareem also averaged exactly 45.8 minutes per game and averaged 33.7 points and 17.5 rebounds per game. Kareem was better, but the collective efforts of the Los Angeles Lakers won out.

What places this Western Conference Finals in the top-five, outside of the historic matchup between Kareem and Wilt, is that this was the lone season in which the Jerry West-led Lakers finally got over the hump and won the NBA Championship.

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