By the Numbers: The 10 Best NBA Teams of All-Time
3. 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers
The last seven teams are all great, don't get me wrong -- but, the top three (at least, according to SRS) are a level above the others. At number three, the Jerry West-led Lakers come in with a rating of 11.65, or 0.8 points better than the number four team.
After winning 69 regular season games by an average margin of 12.28 points, the Lakers continued their outstanding play from day one of the playoffs on. Their season ended with a Game 5 Finals win over the New York Knicks.
In hindsight, how else would it have ended? The '71-72 Lakers were basically a four-headed monster, having four players score at least 14.8 points per game. The two most notable players were The Logo, Jerry West, and the one and only Wilt Chamberlain.
In the Finals, West scored 19.8 points and dished out 8.8 assists per game while Chamberlain did the heavy lifting down low, tallying 19.4 points and an insane 23.2 boards per contest. Now we know how the uber-talented Bucks failed to win a title that season.