1973 NBA Finals

The 1973 NBA World Championship Series pitted the New York Knicks of the Eastern Conference against the Los Angeles Lakers of the Western Conference for the NBA championship. The series was an exact reversal of the prior year, with the Lakers winning Game 1 and the Knicks taking the next four games.

How They Got Here

The Los Angeles Lakers entered the 1973 NBA Playoffs as co-favorites in the West with the Milwaukee Bucks, but both teams faced inspired opponents in the first round. The Chicago Bulls gave the Lakers all they could handle before the Lakers came from behind in Game 7 to take the series. The Lakers next faced the Golden State Warriors for the Western Conference Championship (the Warriors had upset the Bucks in six games). In Game 1, the Lakers won by 2, and in Game 2 the Lakers won by 10. In Game 3 at Oakland, the Lakers routed the Warriors 126-70, but the Warriors won Game 4 to send the series back to Los Angeles. In the Forum, the Lakers took Game 5 and advanced to their fourth NBA Finals series in five seasons.

One year after their NBA Finals loss, the Knicks were back in the playoffs. For some of the Knicks, including Jerry Lucas and Earl Monroe, this was probably their last shot at an NBA title. In the first round they paired against the Baltimore Bullets. The Knicks won Game's 1 and 2 in New York, but lost Game 3 at Baltimore (in that game, the Bullets used a strange lineup of two centers and three guards). New York would take Games 4 and 5 Walt Frazier averaging 20 points per game in this series. In the Conference Finals, the Knicks faced none other than the 68-14 Boston Celtics, who had the league's best record. The Celtics won Game 1 at the Boston Garden, but the Knicks stunned the Celtics in Game 2 with a big 129-96 victory. The Knicks eventually held a 3-1 series lead before Boston came back with two critical wins. However, that had to be done without their star John Havlicek, who was nursing an elbow injury. The loss would come back to haunt the Celtics as they lost again, in Game 7 at home to the Knicks. Even rarer was the fact that this was lost on their home court.

Series summary

After losing the first game, the Knicks reeled off four straight wins to reclaim the NBA title, exactly like the Lakers did in 1972. This is the Knicks' last NBA Championship to date. ABC televised its last NBA Finals, until 2003.

Knicks win series 4-1

This was the first NBA Championship win for Knick players Jerry Lucas and Earl Monroe.

Game 5 of the 1973 Finals was Wilt Chamberlain's last game played in the NBA. Chamberlain scored the last points of the game, and of his career, on an uncontested fast break dunk shot with one second remaining.

This would be the last NBA Finals appearance for the Lakers until 1980; the Knicks would not make it back to the NBA Finals until 1994.

In popular culture

These Finals were cited by Sam Tyler (played by Jason O'Mara) as a treasured memory of his father on the U.S. version of the TV series Life on Mars.

Team rosters

See also

• 1973 NBA Playoffs

External links

• NBA History

v t e NBA Finals Champions O'Brien Trophy Most Valuable Player Award Brown Trophy Greatest Game Ever Played Game 6 of 1998 Finals Broadcasters WNBA Finals Game sevens Droughts Streaks 1940s 1947 1948 1949 1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013