Los Angeles Lakers: Biggest enemies of the 1970s

3. Chicago Bulls

When the NBA began to expand in the 1960’s they decided to put a team in Chicago where the Bulls were born, through the quirk of league alignment the Bulls ended up in the Western Conference, unlike present day where they reside in the Eastern Conference.  Due to the alignment, the Bulls ended up as competitors against the Lakers in the West.

In the early 70’s the Lakers and Bulls would face off in fierce playoff competition three straight years starting in 1971.  The Bulls were a tenacious defensive oriented team lead by a hard-nosed guard who would become a hall of fame coach in Jerry Sloan and by the slick forward Bob Love who would make three all-star teams.  Each year the Bulls faced the Lakers they were in the top three for points allowed on defense.

While the Bulls were among the top defensive teams in the league the Lakers offense were lead by future Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich, and Jerry West.  Despite facing off against such a strong defensive team the Lakers prevailed in every series, although it wasn’t easy.  In 1971 and 1973 the Lakers needed seven games to beat the Bulls, the only easy series was in 1972 when the Lakers swept the Bulls en route to their first NBA championship in Los Angeles.

After 1973 the Lakers would not face off against the Bulls again until the 1991 NBA Finals by then the Bulls had moved to the East, but in 1979 there was one more win for the Lakers.  In a coin flip to see who would get the first pick of the 1979 NBA Draft the Bulls called head, but the coin came up tails meaning the Lakers got the first pick.  They chose a young point guard named Earvin “Magic” Johnson.