Kate Delaney (MIT)
Larry Sportello punctuates his conversation with snatches of lyrics of popular songs and a running commentary on the 1970 NBA playoffs. What was special about that year’s playoffs? After all, the Lakers had lost a 7-game series to the Celtics in 1969 and had lost in 1968 to the Celtics as well (in 6 games). In fact, by 1970 the Lakers had not won a championship since 1954—when they were still based in Minneapolis. The LA Lakers are currently the NBA’s reigning champions and hold the record for the most wins, the highest winning percentage and the most NBA finals appearances, but their first decade in LA (they moved from Minneapolis in 1960) was marked by frustrating losses to their Eastern conference rivals. The dynasty years were still ahead of them when Sportello tracked The Golden Fang.
In my paper I will place the 1970s playoffs into the context of Lakers’ franchise history and also examine the players who made the 1970 finals memorable (on both sides) and speculate on that season’s relationship to Inherent Vice.