1973 NBA Finals

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For the third time in four seasons, the New York Knicks of the Eastern Conference met the Los Angeles Lakers of the Western Conference for the NBA World Championship in the 1973 NBA Finals. The Knicks defeated the Lakers in 1970 in a seven-game series. The Lakers would even things up. Prior to Christmas Day 2002, Game 7 marked the last NBA game on ABC.

1 How They Got Here
2 Series Recap
3 Series Summary
4 Trivia

[edit] How They Got Here

The Los Angeles Lakers enterd the 1973 NBA Playoffs as the team to beat, in the first round they matched with the Chicago Bulls, after 6 games nothing was settled, in Game 7, the Lakers barely able to get pass the Bulls and advanced to the conference finals where they faced the Golden State Warriors. In Game 1, the Lakers won by 2, and in Game 2 the Lakers won by 10. at Golden State in Game 3,the Lakers made that game a no-contest as the Lakers beat the Warriors 126-70. The Warriors won Game 4, but the Lakers won Game 5 and avanced to the NBA Finals.

One year removed from their NBA Finals loss, the Knicks were back in the playoffs in what might be their last chance to win the NBA Championship. In the first round they paired against the Baltimore Bullets. The Knicks won the first 2 games in New York, then in Game 3 the Bullets won in a strange lineup that featured in their lineup of 2 centes and 3 guards, but New York won Games 4 and 5 as Walt Frazier averaged 20 points per game in their series as the Knicks advanced to the Conference Finals. In the Conference Finals, The Celtics won Game 1, but the Knicks won Game 2 big with a 129-96 victory, the Knicks would have a 3-1 series lead before Boston came back with 2 critical wins, but they did it without their star John Havlicek who was nursing an elbow injury, something that would come back tohaunt the Celtics as they lost a rare home game at the Boston Garden to the Knicks, even more rare was the fact the Celtics lost the series in 7 games at their home turf.

[edit] Series Recap

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 was the Knicks' last NBA Championship to date. ABC televised its last NBA Finals, until 2003.

[edit] Series Summary

Game	Date	Home Team	Result	Road Team
Game 1	May 1	Los Angeles	115-112	New York
Game 2	May 3	Los Angeles	95-99	New York
Game 3	May 6	New York	87-83	Los Angeles
Game 4	May 8	New York	103-98	Los Angeles
Game 5	May 10	Los Angeles	93-102	New York

Knicks win series 4-1

[edit] Trivia

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

This would be the Last NBA Finals appearance for the Lakers until 1980 when Magic Johnson was on the team, for the Knicks their next NBA Finals appearance would come in 1994 when Patrick Ewing was on the team.