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The 1972 Lakers will be remembered for:

a) Ripping off 33 straight wins, about as safe as any record in sports, much less the NBA.

b) Providing Jerry West with his first championship.

c) Providing the franchise its first NBA title since moving to L.A.

d) All of the above... and even more.

The answer, by the way, is "d."

It's been 40 years since the 1972 Lakers, featuring West, Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich, etc., etched an indelible identity as one of the best teams in league history. At halftime of Friday's game against the Rockets, that squad was formally honored for its greatness. Several members -- Jerry West, Goodrich, Jim McMillian, Pat Riley, Jim Cleamons, among others -- were on hand, along with people like Marge Hearn, widow of the late, great Chick Hearn.

Before the game, the media was given face time with several men of the hour. Below are some videos, plus the full transcript of our time with The Logo.

Q: What stands out most from that season?

Jerry West: Obviously, winning 33 games in a row stands out more than anything. It's just something in your wildest imagination, you could not imagine that happening. I think that, the kind of ironic thing, we always seemed to have a bunch of little injuries along the way that wouldn't keep you from playing, but wouldn't let you play at your very best. For the most part, that team stayed really healthy. It was just a magical year. That's all it was. Everything worked. The games weren't close. A lot of players contributed and a lot of people got rest. We won games, they were all laughers, most of them. But that was really a unique team and everything went great for us that year. Nothing ugly happened at all.

Q: You've spoken before publicly about your difficulties enjoying the game. But when you look back to that year is it pure joy?

JW: Well, you know something? I loved to play the game. That's not what I didn't like. Playing the game was great, but I thin being involved in the management part of it, that's the most difficult thing to do. Somebody asked me one time, do [I] need a coach to motivate me? And the answer is "hell no." I didn't need anybody to motivate me. I think the difference is that you're trying to deal with 10 people that you go to war with every night. And also not to have a coach to try to get you to play. We had a lot of guys you didn't have to say very much to. They were gonna play. They played every night.

Q: How much did it hurt you personally that Elgin Baylor was forced to retire early in the season

JW: Well, for me, it was probably like a stake in my heart, frankly, when I heard he was going to retire.

(Read full post)

LOS ANGELES -- Shaquille O’Neal was always afraid the day would never come.

When he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996, he always dreamed he would one day see his jersey retired alongside Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Gail Goodrich, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.

As the Lakers continued to get eliminated in the playoffs early during his first three seasons in L.A. he worried it might never happen, and again thought his chance might have been lost when he was traded from the team in 2004 and finished his career with the Boston Celtics.

When the Lakers, however, announced they would retire his jersey next season, O’Neal said it was one of the highlights of his career.

“It means a lot to me,” O’Neal said. “I remember when I first signed with the Lakers, Jerry West told me to look up at the retired jerseys. He said either your name is going to be up there or you’re going to be a bust so it will mean a lot to have my name up there. That was always with me, especially when we didn’t have Phil Jackson and we were always losing in the playoffs, I was nervous I wasn’t going to be that good. Then we got Phil and we won championships and I was always hoping and praying my jersey would get retired one day.”

O’Neal, who was in Los Angeles this weekend to host the Cartoon Network Hall of Game Awards, says he continues to watch the Lakers regularly after retiring in June and enjoyed watching Kobe Bryant pass him for fifth on the NBA all-time scoring list earlier this season. He did say, however, he should have been much higher on the list but injuries and an inability to hit his free throws held him back.

“Kobe’s one of those athletes like Michael Jordan and Karl Malone that doesn’t miss a lot of games because of injury,” O’Neal said. “I missed 250 games and I averaged 24 points per game so that’s 6,000 points and I missed 5,000 free throws so I could have easily been at No. 2. Kobe’s never really hurt and he shoots a lot so good for him.”

When Kobe Bryant passed Shaquille O'Neal to become the NBA's fifth all-time leading scorer, it prompted a flurry of debates about his place in basketball history, but also his ranking among great Lakers, as in this video with ESPN's Tim Legler.

I don't love his list -- Wilt Chamberlain (Legler's #4) fits better among the five greatest players in NBA history than the five best greatest Lakers -- and Jerry West, excluded by Legler, should be in the top 5. Still, there are two big notables. First, Legler has Magic Johnson ahead of Kobe Bryant for the top spot, but admits there is subjectivity and historical bias in play. Namely, Magic is elevated not just by his accomplishments but also Legler's respect for the NBA though the 1980's.

Johnson tops my list, too, but I've long thought the G.L.O.A.T debate is generational. For fans, say, 35 and over, it's tough to put anyone ahead of Magic, just as it was likely tough for the previous era to put Magic ahead of West. In time, though, I suspect more often than not Kobe will land at the top, because more "voters" will come the pool of fans who grew up watching him, and only know Magic from highlight reels.

Second, lists like these reinforce the almost absurd levels of success and star power of the Lakers' franchise, historically speaking. Pundits and fans alike routinely assemble Top 5's like this one, and Hall of Famers James Worthy and Gail Goodrich don't get a sniff. For many -- maybe most -- there's no room to squeeze in Elgin Baylor. Elgin Baylor!

Pretty incredible.