In Game Six, rookie Magic Johnson played center for the Lakers in place of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( who was out because of a sprained ankle sustained in Game Five ) and scored 42 points.

Mikan had scored 15 of the Lakers ' 18 points, thus scoring 83. 3 % of his team's points, setting an NBA all-time record which will probably never be broken.

He won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in a season in which he averaged 24. 3 points per game, and scored 56 points in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

In the seventh game of the series, Malone scored 31 points and made 15 rebounds, but the Lakers beat the Jazz 109 – 98 and would eventually win the 1988 NBA Finals.

He led the team in scoring in 24 of the last 26 games of the season ; on March 29, 1990 against the Golden State Warriors, Malone scored 49 points, and on April 12 against the Lakers he scored 45.

On January 22, 2006, Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe Bryant scored a career-high 81 points in the Staples Center against the Toronto Raptors, the second-highest number of points scored in a single game in NBA history, second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point performance.

He was a major contributor in helping the Lakers clinch the Western Conference Finals against Kevin Garnett and the Minnesota Timberwolves, when he scored 18 points in the sixth and final game, all from 3-point range, where he was 6 for 7 .< ref >

On April 5, 1999, Fox scored his 6, 000th career point in the Lakers ' 117-104 victory over the Denver Nuggets.

His nickname, The Truth, was accorded to him by Shaquille O ' Neal after a 112-107 Lakers ' victory over the Celtics on March 13th, 2001 in which Pierce scored 42 points on 13 of 19 shooting.

In an overtime game versus the Los Angeles Lakers on December 17, 2006 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Arenas scored a career-high 60 points, adding 8 rebounds and 8 assists in helping lead the Wizards over the Lakers 147 – 141.

In game six of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers, Brown scored 15 points, 6 rebounds and three assists in a playoff-career-high 28 minutes.

On February 13, 2006, he scored a career high 25 points in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Three years later, Maxwell scored 24 points against the Los Angeles Lakers in the decisive game-seven victory during the 1984 NBA Finals.

In his first game of the season after serving his suspension, Bynum scored 29 points on 13 for 18 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds, leading the Lakers to a 92-89 victory over the Denver Nuggets.

He scored 45 in Game 3, the Lakers won 95 – 89.

On January 13, 2009, Wafer scored a career-high 23 points on 10-14 shooting in 39 minutes against the Los Angeles Lakers.

In Game 4 of the finals, Ariza who was 0-for-6 in the first half, scored 13 in the third quarter to help the Lakers win in overtime and finished the game with nine rebounds and three 3-pointers.

Ha rarely played in games ; however, on April 20 against the Los Angeles Lakers, he scored a career high 13 points.

He played in 10 games, and scored a total of 6 points in 28 minutes, before being assigned on March 6 to the Lakers ' National Basketball Development League affiliate, the Los Angeles D-Fenders.

During this period, the Minneapolis Lakers, led by center George Mikan, won five NBA Championships and established themselves as the league's first dynasty.

Through this period, the NBA continued to strengthen with the shift of the Minneapolis Lakers to Los Angeles, the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco, the Syracuse Nationals to Philadelphia to become the Philadelphia 76ers, and the St. Louis Hawks moving to Atlanta, as well as the addition of its first expansion franchises.

The Miami Heat, led by their star shooting guard, Dwyane Wade, and Shaquille O ' Neal, who had been traded from the Lakers during the 2004 summer, won the series over the Dallas Mavericks in 6 after losing the first two games.

Kobe Bryant won his first Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award award in his 13th season after leading the Lakers to their first NBA championship since the departure of Shaquille O ' Neal.

** The New York Knicks win their first NBA championship, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 113-99 in Game 7 of the world championship series at Madison Square Garden.

The team started out the season by losing its first 17 games, including a blowout 138 – 91, to Magic Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers, at the time an NBA record.

After dropping the first two games in the Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Magic finally won their first ever game in the Finals in Game 3.

Their opponent would be the Los Angeles Lakers, who had run up an 11 – 0 record in the first three rounds of the playoffs, and were expected by many to make quick work of the 76ers.

Because of a seemingly meaningless loss to the lowly Chicago Bulls in the regular season finale ( both the Sixers and the Lakers finished with identical 56 – 26 records, but Los Angeles was awarded a higher seed based on tiebreakers ), the 76ers had to open a series on the road for the first time in the 2001 playoffs.

In the trade that would send six-time All-Star Dwight Howard to the Lakers, Philadelphia agreed to send 2011 first round pick Nik Vučević, 2012 first round draft pick Maurice Harkless, and a future first round draft pick to Orlando, as well as All-Star guard / forward Andre Iguodala to Denver.

The Cavaliers defeated the Chicago Bulls 4 – 1 in the first round of the 2010 NBA Playoffs but, in a huge upset, lost to the Boston Celtics after leading the series 2 – 1, with the Celtics proceeding to win 3 consecutive games ( afterwards, the Celtics went to the 2010 NBA Finals and lost to the Los Angeles Lakers 4 – 3.

The Pistons ' first trip to the Finals saw them face the Los Angeles Lakers, who were led by Magic Johnson, James Worthy, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Their first NBA Finals appearance was against the Los Angeles Lakers, who proved too much as they ended Indiana's Championship hopes in six games.

The Nuggets faced the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers ( 57 – 25 ) in the first round.

The Lakers swept the Nuggets in four games, marking the second time in NBA history that a 50-win team was swept in a best-of-seven playoff series in the first round .< ref >

NBA basketball returned to the Twin Cities in 1989 for the first time since the Minneapolis Lakers departed for Los Angeles in 1960.

As a result, they were awarded home court advantage for the first time when facing the three-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.

Despite their regular season success, the Spurs were unable to win any NBA championships, losing in the Western Conference playoffs to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the 1981 and the Los Angeles Lakers in in 4 games 1982 and in 6 games in the 1983 Western Finals despite getting both wins at the Forum in the 1983 series.

The Spurs and the Hornets would battle for seven hard fought games ( with New Orleans earning the upper hand throughout much of the series ), but the Spurs scrapped together a game 7 win on the road ( marking their first ever game 7 win on the road and series win after being down 0 – 2 ) to advance to the Western Conference Finals against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, where their run would come to an end after five games.

The Spurs won their second back-to-back-to-back set of games against the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Sacramento Kings, the first NBA team to ever do so, and would eventually clinch the division and conference for the second straight season.

Johnson went on to lead the Lakers to five titles, and Bird went on to lead the Celtics to three.

In 2004, the Lakers returned to the Finals, only to fall in five games to the Detroit Pistons.

Despite Nelson's return to the team for the Finals, the Lakers won the series and the championship by beating the Magic in five games.

ESPN. com's Marc Stein was told the Lakers were to acquire Howard, Chris Duhon and Earl Clark, the Denver Nuggets were to acquire Andre Iguodala, the Philadelphia 76ers were to acquire Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson, and the Magic were to acquire Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless, Josh McRoberts, Christian Eyenga and five total protected future ( three first-round, two second-round ) picks from each of the other three teams.

The Spurs finished with 58 – 24 records for both the 2000 – 01 and 2001 – 02 seasons but found themselves suffering playoff ousters in both seasons from the eventual NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers, getting swept from the 2001 Conference Finals and losing in five games during the 2002 second round.

The Lakers won five championships in Minneapolis, propelled by center George Mikan, who is described by the NBA's official website as the league's " first superstar ".

The 1980s Lakers were nicknamed " Showtime " due to their Magic Johnson-led fast break-offense, and won five championships in a nine-year span, including their first ever Finals championship against the Celtics in 1985.

Hall of Famer George Mikan (# 99 ) led the Lakers franchise to their first five NBA championships.

Magic Johnson along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led the " Showtime " Lakers to five NBA titles in the 1980s.

The Rockets, however, defeated the Lakers in five games in the Western Conference Finals.

The Lakers advanced to the NBA Finals by sweeping the Nuggets, defeating the Warriors in five games, and sweeping the SuperSonics in the Western Conference Finals.

With a 41 – 25 regular season record the Lakers entered the playoffs as the third seed, the team defeated the Denver Nuggets in the first round in seven games but were eliminated by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round in five games.

Since the Lakers were established in 1948, the team has missed the playoffs just five times.

However, arch-rivals Los Angeles Lakers defeated San Antonio in five games in the Conference Finals, and the Spurs once again failed to capture back-to-back NBA championships.

In the playoffs, the Suns eliminated the Lakers in five games, but were unable to overcome the Spurs in the Conference Semifinals, losing the series 4 – 2.

His bid failed as the Lakers were defeated in five games by the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals.

Of the team's five NBA championships since moving to the venue, the Lakers have celebrated their and victories at Staples Center with series-winning victories at home.

During the 2000 NBA Playoffs, Webber and the Kings were defeated by the Los Angeles Lakers in five games during the first round.

Jackson's Los Angeles Lakers later won five championships employing the triangle.

His next team, the Los Angeles Lakers, won five NBA titles from 2000 to 2010.

The Magic made just their second-ever NBA Finals appearance that year, and fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in five games.

The Lakers experienced a tremendous run of success in the 1980s, winning five NBA Championships and making the NBA Finals every year but two ( 1981 and 1986 ).