The LA Lakers: History of a Dynasty
Even as the Celtics began their ascension through the ranks as a premiere team, the Lakers were creating basketball's first true dynasty, bringing home the championships five times in six years between 1949 and 1954.
In 1960 the team made their historic move to Los Angeles, where they play to this very day. Despite arming themselves with legends such as Wilt Chamberlain, they found themselves fighting tooth and nail against the fast growing Boston Celtics, and could not regain their titles back until the addition of Earvin Johnson, better known as Magic Johnson.
The team leapt right back into championship titles after a frustrating 70's, fundamentally dominating the 1980's with a staggering five championships, before suffering a humiliating follow up in the 90's that saw zero titles and one appearance in 1991.
The Lakers have long been known, in addition to their record shattering talent, for the big names that are now synonymous with basketball. Legends such as Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, and of course, Magic Johnson. Attracting even Hollywood celebrities, the Lakers have become a kind of professional sports celebrity in and of themselves.
It should come as no surprise that the titanic career of the Lakers has pitted them in an age old rivalry with the NBA's other behemoth of basketball lore in the Boston Celtics. Starting in the 1960's when the Celtics handed a disturbing six defeats in eight years; one of the NBA's biggest rivalries exists into today. To add fuel to the fire, many of the finals games were so close that they actually had to utilize all seven games, with the Celtics only just barely pulling ahead.
With the hiring of Phil Jackson as head coach, the team, armed with some of the NBA's greatest talent, managed to return to their state of previous glory with three consecutive championship titles starting in 2000.