the lakers have won the finals seven times.
how many times have the lakers won the finals?
seven
the los angeles lakers are an american professional basketball team based in los angeles, california. they play in the pacific division of the western conference in the national basketball association (nba). the lakers' franchise was founded in 1947 in detroit, michigan before moving to minneapolis, minnesota, where the team got its official title from the state's nickname, "land of 10,000 lakes". the minneapolis lakers won five nba finals before relocating to los angeles in the 1960–61 nba season, becoming the first west coast team in league history. in the 1960s, the lakers reached the nba finals six times, but lost every series to the boston celtics, beginning their long and storied rivalry. in 1972, with future hall of famers wilt chamberlain, gail goodrich, and jerry west, the lakers compiled a 33-game winning streak, the longest streak in u.s. professional team sports, and won their sixth title under coach bill sharman. the lakers' popularity soared in the 1980s when they won five additional championships during a nine-year span with the help of hall of famers magic johnson, kareem abdul-jabbar, james worthy and coach pat riley, the franchise's all-time leader in both regular season and playoff games coached and wins. two of those championships during that span were against their arch-rivals, the boston celtics. with the team of shaquille o'neal, kobe bryant and hall of fame coach phil jackson, the lakers played in four of the first five nba finals of the 21st century; winning three consecutively from 2000 to 2002, and losing the fourth in 2004. the lakers would then conclude the decade with three straight finals appearances; losing to the boston celtics in 2008 but then prevailing with back-to-back championships against the orlando magic in 2009 and the boston celtics in 2010. the 2010 championship marks the 16th nba championship in lakers franchise history.
los angeles lakers all-time roster
a whole new of generation of pistons and lakers would meet as they squared off again in the 2004 nba finals. los angeles originally entered the 2003–04 nba season on a mission to win the championship, due to a multi-talented roster featuring 4 nba superstars: shaquille o'neal, kobe bryant, gary payton, and karl malone. despite trying to meet high expectations and getting off to a promising start, the lakers suffered through injuries and turmoil throughout the campaign; malone struggled with a knee injury which he had to have surgery on, and was limited to playing only 42 games. payton never grew comfortable learning the nuances of head coach phil jackson's triangle offense. finally, o'neal and bryant spent the whole season feuding over who was a more valuable player for the lakers. nevertheless, los angeles finished with a 56–26 record, winning the pacific division title on the last day of the season. next, the lakers eliminated the houston rockets, san antonio spurs, and minnesota timberwolves to win the western conference crown. the pistons also struggled through the early part of their season as well. however, their fortunes soon improved vastly thanks to the february acquisition of rasheed wallace via trade, and the firm guidance of head coach larry brown. detroit finished with a 54–28 record. then, they defeated the milwaukee bucks, new jersey nets, and indiana pacers en route to the eastern conference title. just like they had in both 1988 & 1989, the lakers entered the nba finals as the clear favorite to win the championship. still, the pistons were not discouraged by their underdog status, stunning los angeles with a game 1 win in l.a. the lakers pulled out an overtime victory over detroit in game 2, thanks to bryant's game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation, enabling l.a. to eventually tie the series. however, as the series shifted to detroit, the pistons imposed their will on the lakers. their commitment to team basketball and tough, physical defense proved to be insurmountable. l.a.'s title dreams were dashed when malone reinjured his knee in game 4, and was unable to suit up for the lakers in game 5. the pistons convincingly won the next 3 games at the palace of auburn hills, and won the series 4–1, capturing their 3rd nba title overall. at the end of the series, al michaels, who was serving as the play-by-play announcer for the "nba on abc" during the finals, observed that even though the lakers had hall of fame players, the pistons beat l.a. by using players that nobody else wanted. chauncey billups, the pistons' point guard, won the nba finals mvp award. billups became the first finals mvp recipient since former pistons star joe dumars to have won the award before making his first nba all-star team. like dumars, billups would eventually go on to make multiple appearances in the nba all-star game.
lakers–pistons rivalry