Today In History

In the early 1970s, the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers met in the NBA Finals 3 times in a 4 - season span. They first met in the 1970 Finals, which was won by the Knicks in a memorable 7 game series, highlighted by Willis Reed’s famous emergence onto the court just prior to the start of Game 7. What also made this matchup memorable were the star players on both sides. In addition to Reed, the Knicks of 1970 also had Bill Bradley and Walt Frazier. The Lakers had Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, and Jerry West. After a 1 - year hiatus, these two clubs met again in the 1972 Finals. Earl Monroe and Gail Goodrich had now been added to the star-studded Knicks and Lakers, respectively. This time however, the 69-win Lakers, who had won 33 straight games earlier in the season, beat the Knicks 4 games to 1. These teams met again in the 1973 Finals with the Knicks prevailing 4 games to 1.