SCORECARDhim with an uppercut. This being
1972, Hairston merely got a
personal foul and Abdul-Jabbar a
one-shot “punching foul.” (Hairston
missed it.) Abdul-Jabbar finished
with 39 points—23 in the second
half—as Milwaukee pulled away to
prevail 120–104.
Sharman, who had been carrying
a speech in his pocket to read when
the streak ended for so long that it
turned yellow, decided not to deliver
it. Said the coach, “I was going to say
corny things like, ‘Well, Jerry blew
another one.’ ” Probably for the best.THE LAKERS dropped three of
their next five, but that proved a
minor irritant—they followed that
with eight straight Ws. (Another
annoyance: Sharman’s ongoing
voice troubles required him to
carry a megaphone at practice.) On
March 10, L.A. routed the Cavaliers
132–98. The next afternoon Wilt
threw a housewarming party at his
mansion. The 350 guests—including
O.J. Simpson and all of the Lakers—
were greeted by Chamberlain, who
wore a gold leisure suit crafted
from antelope skins and showed off
amenities such as a bedspread made
from 17,000 arctic wolves, an entire
year’s bounty. Chamberlain had
bought the fur years earlier and kept
it in cold storage until the time was
right to use it.
The party broke up 15 hours after
it started, with a catered 4 a.m.
breakfast. That night the Lakers
beat the Buffalo Braves by 39.
Los Angeles went on to finish
the regular season 69–13, a record
for wins that stood until the Bulls
won 70 games 24 years later.McMillian more than justified
Sharman’s decision, averaging
18.8 points, third on the team,
behind Goodrich (25.9) and West
(25.8). The closest any team has
come to the 33-game streak, during
which L.A. outscored its opponents
by an average of 16 points, was the
Heat’s 27-game jag in 2012–13.In the playoffs, the Lakers swept
the Bulls and beat the Bucks in six
tough games before dispatching the
Knicks in five in the Finals. “This is
the greatest team I’ve ever been on,”
said West, who knew he and his team
were in a much better place than they
had been 12 months earlier. “This
will be one summer to enjoy.”30 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED | SI.COM
LO
NG(^) PH
OT
OG
RA
PH
Y (^) IN
C.
HOUSE IN ORDER
Chamberlain was able to
multitask: dominating inside
while overseeing construction
of his mansion.