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Xtinct

A bit opinionated, try to take a non-sports expert view at the sports world.

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Greatest Lakers team of All-time Tournament

by Xtinct

created February 06, 2008, last edited May 23, 2009

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A proud franchise the Lakers are. Why? Because they have produced some of the best teams the NBA, nay, some of the best teams the sports world has ever seen. But, you ask dear reader: "Which Lakers team is the best ever?"

Is it the 71-72 Lakers with their unprecedented 33 game win streak? Maybe one of the great 80’s Showtime squads? Or is it the 2000-2001 Lakers with their 15 - 1 playoff run to the championship?

Thanks to whatifsports.com, Lakers Bleeding Purple and Gold will be running the Lakers End All tournament. Every Lakers team beginning with the 1951 season to last year’s disappointing 06-07 squad will be battling it out for the title of ‘LPG Best Lakers Team of All-Time’!

Tournament Setup

The earliest team in the tournament was determined based on the availability of teams in the whatifsports.com database. Seeding was based on titles won, playoff percentage, season percentage.

Championship teams were automatically seeded in the top 12. Based on the 69 -13 record and the 33 game winning streak, the 71-72 Lakers were given the #1 seed. The rest of the championship teams were seeded based on playoff percentage

The non-championship teams were seeded based on playoff percentage, you know getting it done when it matters with ties broken by regular season win percentage.

The tournament bracket is based on the NCAA National Championship tournament. With only 56 Lakers teams for this tournament, the top 8 seeds received a bye.

The first two rounds will be a three game series with the higher seed having home court. The sweet 16 and elite 8 will each be a five game series with the higher seed having home cart. The final four and the championship rounds will each be a seven game series.

Note: This past summer I started this tournament. Unfortunately, my ADT, uh ADD, caused me to let the tournament slip to the back of my mind. In any case the first round is complete. The bracket and seedings are available here.

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SSreportersLegend

664 days ago

Score 0

The first two rounds will be a three game series with the higher seed having home court. And how would you determine that?

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XtinctWaterboy

664 days ago

Score 0

Determining the higher seed was explained above. Championship teams automatically seeded 1-12.

Seeding was based on titles won, playoff percentage, season percentage.

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SSreportersLegend

664 days ago

Score 0

How can you determine home court?

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XtinctWaterboy

664 days ago

Score 0

I simply place the higher seeded team in the 'home court' slot. This is with the assumption that the what if sports simulation adds some kind of home court consideration. I know that when comparing teams from the same city, realistically it shouldn't matter. However, if the simulation takes home record, away record, etc into consideration, then the outcomes may be affected by throwing teams in willy nilly.

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Manny StilesMajor Leaguer

664 days ago

Score 0

It's a waste of time. It's the 71-72 team hands down. They might have been the happiest, ballsharingest, teamworkingest team of all time. When Wilt Chamberlain (who only took a mere 9 shots per game that season) said it was the best team he ever played with and they have the second best record all-time to show for it - what is the question again?

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XtinctWaterboy

664 days ago

Score 1

They said the Patriots were the best team of all time....I'm just sayin'

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Manny StilesMajor Leaguer

663 days ago

Score 0

"They" said it, I didn't! 33 wins in a row and 18-1 both agree with me.

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XtinctWaterboy

663 days ago

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Well, I gave them the number one seed (though that may not say much if my seedings are all whacky but I tried), so let's see what they'll do with it. Just so you know, there have been quite a few upsets already. The second round should be complete tonite and I'll put a link to the bracket up

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The PipDiv-I Stud

663 days ago

Score 0

It's fun to do a single franchise tourney, but 56 Lakers teams?!?!? Way too much. Cut it to 16, or maybe 24 tops. I wouldn't even use as many as 56 teams if I were doing this for the Yankees, and they probably have 56 teams worth using.

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XtinctWaterboy

663 days ago

Score 0

If I did 16 or 24, I'd have to pick the teams I consider the top 16 or 24. I wanted it to be as objective as possible, hence all available Lakers teams were included.

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