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The Lakers a dynasty team,which shows no signs of slowing down.Their team
a perfect aresonal of deadly players including the ledgend Kobe Bryant.Now with the addition of Pau Gasol and the recovoring
players,the Lakers are ready for a chance to win the NBA Championship. Right now they have a record of 56 wins and 25 loses,
29-11 at home,27-14 on the road,currenly placing them on top of the Western Confrence,one above the New Orleans Hornets,hosting
Chris Paul "Mvp Canadate."They have a very high percantage of winning the championships,with all star MVP "Kobe Bryant".They
have gained confidence of their last win agianst the San Antionio Spurs 105-86.MVP Canadiate Kobe Bryant scored over 20 points,on
April 13.2008.Lamar Odom the only Los Angeles starter to play in the final period, added 17 points and 14 rebounds before
coming out for good with 4:26 remaining. Pau Gasol had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Derek Fisher also scored 14, Jordan Farmar
added 11 points and Ronny Turiaf scored 10 for the Lakers, who outscored the Spurs 53-32 in the second half.
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The Lakers began in 1944 when Ben Berger and
Morris Chalfen bought the Detroit Gems of the National
Basketball League for $15,000. The team was relocated to Minneapolis for the 1947 season. As the
Gems had by far the worst record in the NBL, the Lakers had the first pick in the 1947 dispersal draft of players from the
Professional Basketball League of America, which they used to select George Mikan,
later to become arguably the greatest center of his time. With Mikan,
new coach John Kundla and an infusion of former University
of Minnesota players, the Lakers won the NBL championship in that 1947-48 season and joined three
other NBL teams in jumping to the Basketball Association of America,
where they promptly won the 1948-49 BAA championship. The NBL and BAA merged to become the NBA in 1949.
The Minneapolis Lakers were one of the dominant teams of the fledgling
NBA. With Hall of Famers George
Mikan, Vern Mikkelsen,
Jim Pollard, Slater
Martin, and Clyde Lovellette, they were the NBA's first "dynasty", winning five championships in six years (1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954).
After their move to Los Angeles in 1960, the team would go on to feature Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Gail Goodrich, and Wilt Chamberlain. But despite the wealth of talent, they were repeatedly
foiled by the Boston Celtics, losing the championship
to them six times in eight years. It wasn't until 1972, when the Lakers strung together a record 33-game win streak under
Coach of the Year Bill
Sharman, that they were able to secure their first championship in Los Angeles. However,
even with the addition of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Lakers
weren't able to win another championship until the arrival of Earvin "Magic" Johnson in 1979, defeating the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1980 championship series.(thanks to an MVP performance
by the rookie Johnson, who, starting for the injured Abdul-Jabbar, had 42 points, 15 rebounds, and 7 assists to clinch the
series. Under coach Pat Riley, a former Laker player,
the Lakers then went on to dominate the 1980s, appearing in the finals eight times in the decade and being crowned champions
five times, including consecutive championships in 1987 and 1988, the first team to do so since Boston in 1969.
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