# 1969–70 Los Angeles Lakers season

The 1969–70 NBA season was the Lakers' 22nd season in the NBA and tenth season in Los Angeles.

## Offseason

After the tumultuous previous two seasons under the fiery head coach Butch Van Breda Kolff, the Lakers replaced him with the low key Joe Mullaney.

### Draft picks

* 1st round, 12th pick – Willie McCarter, G, Drake University
* 1st round, 15th pick – Rick Roberson, C, University of Cincinnati
* 2nd round, 27th pick – Dick Garrett, G, Southern Illinois University

## Regular season

After barely losing the NBA title the previous season, the veteran Lakers had high hopes coming into the 1969–70 season. However, 9 games into the season, Wilt Chamberlain suffered a severe knee injury and it was thought he would miss the next 10–12 months. Elgin Baylor also missed 28 games due to injury, and Jerry West missed 8. They traded Bill Hewitt for double-double machine Happy Hairston midway through the season. 1st round draft pick Willie McCarter also missed almost the entire season. But the Lakers received key contributions from rookies Rick Roberson and Dick Garrett, and managed to battle the Atlanta Hawks for 1st place in the Western Division for most of the season. Chamberlain returned for the final few games, and while the Lakers finished 2nd in the division to Atlanta by 2 games, they were at full strength for the playoffs.

### Season standings

| Western Divisionvte | W | L | PCT | GB |
| x-Atlanta Hawks | 48 | 34 | .585 | – |
| x-Los Angeles Lakers | 46 | 36 | .561 | 2 |
| x-Chicago Bulls | 39 | 43 | .476 | 9 |
| x-Phoenix Suns | 39 | 43 | .476 | 9 |
| Seattle SuperSonics | 36 | 46 | .439 | 12 |
| San Francisco Warriors | 30 | 52 | .366 | 18 |
| San Diego Rockets | 27 | 55 | .329 | 21 |
    x – clinched playoff spot

### Record vs. opponents

1969–70 NBA Records :
| Team | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHI | CIN | DET | LAL | MIL | NYK | PHI | PHO | SDR | SFW | SEA |
| Atlanta | – | 2–4 | 6–0 | 5–2 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 4–3 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 5–2 | 4–2 |
| Baltimore | 4–2 | – | 5–2 | 5–1 | 4–3 | 5–2 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 1–5 | 3–4 | 3–3 | 6–0 | 2–4 | 5–1 |
| Boston | 0–6 | 2–5 | – | 3–3 | 3–3 | 4–3 | 2–4 | 1–6 | 4–3 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 5–1 | 2–4 |
| Chicago | 2–5 | 1–5 | 3–3 | – | 3–3 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 0–6 | 3–3 | 5–2 | 3–4 | 4–2 | 4–3 |
| Cincinnati | 3–3 | 3–4 | 3–3 | 3–3 | – | 4–2 | 2–4 | 2–5 | 2–5 | 4–3 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 1–5 |
| Detroit | 3–3 | 2–5 | 3–4 | 3–3 | 2–4 | – | 3–3 | 1–6 | 1–6 | 1–5 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 3–3 |
| Los Angeles | 3–4 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 3–3 | – | 3–3 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 3–4 | 5–2 | 5–2 | 6–0 |
| Milwaukee | 3–3 | 3–3 | 6–1 | 2–4 | 5–2 | 6–1 | 3–3 | – | 2–4 | 5–2 | 6–0 | 6–0 | 4–2 | 5–1 |
| New York | 2–4 | 5–1 | 3–4 | 6–0 | 5–2 | 6–1 | 4–2 | 4–2 | – | 5–2 | 6–0 | 5–1 | 5–1 | 4–2 |
| Philadelphia | 3–3 | 4–3 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 3–4 | 5–1 | 2–4 | 2–5 | 2–5 | – | 4–2 | 4–2 | 6–0 | 0–6 |
| Phoenix | 4–2 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 2–5 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 4–3 | 0–6 | 0–6 | 2–4 | – | 7–0 | 3–3 | 4–3 |
| San Diego | 2–4 | 0–6 | 2–4 | 4–3 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 2–5 | 0–6 | 1–5 | 2–4 | 0–7 | – | 5–2 | 4–2 |
| San Francisco | 2–5 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 2–5 | 2–4 | 1–5 | 0–6 | 3–3 | 2–5 | – | 3–4 |
| Seattle | 2–4 | 1–5 | 4–2 | 3–4 | 5–1 | 3–3 | 0–6 | 1–5 | 2–4 | 6–0 | 3–4 | 2–4 | 4–3 | — |

### Game log
## Playoffs

1970 playoff game log :
Division Semi-finals: 4–3 (home: 3–1; road: 1–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
March 25
Phoenix
W 128–112
Elgin Baylor (32)
Wilt Chamberlain (19)
Elgin Baylor (10)
The Forum 15,046
1–0
2
March 29
Phoenix
L 101–114
Jerry West (33)
Wilt Chamberlain (25)
Jerry West (11)
The Forum 17,501
1–1
3
April 2
@ Phoenix
L 98–112
Jerry West (31)
Wilt Chamberlain (12)
Chamberlain, West (7)
Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 12,324
1–2
4
April 4
@ Phoenix
L 102–112
Wilt Chamberlain (29)
Wilt Chamberlain (19)
Keith Erickson (6)
Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 12,356
1–3
5
April 5
Phoenix
W 138–121
Chamberlain, West (36)
Mel Counts (17)
Jerry West (18)
The Forum 17,475
2–3
6
April 7
@ Phoenix
W 104–93
Jerry West (35)
Wilt Chamberlain (26)
Wilt Chamberlain (11)
Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 12,386
3–3
7
April 9
Phoenix
W 129–94
Wilt Chamberlain (30)
Wilt Chamberlain (27)
Jerry West (15)
The Forum 17,519
4–3 :
Division finals: 4–0 (home: 2–0; road: 2–0)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
April 12
@ Atlanta
W 119–115
Jerry West (38)
Wilt Chamberlain (17)
Wilt Chamberlain (8)
Alexander Memorial Coliseum 7,197
1–0
2
April 14
@ Atlanta
W 105–94
Chamberlain, West (24)
Wilt Chamberlain (24)
Keith Erickson (7)
Alexander Memorial Coliseum 7,197
2–0
3
April 17
Atlanta
W 115–114 (OT)
Jerry West (35)
Wilt Chamberlain (26)
Jerry West (13)
The Forum 17,183
3–0
4
April 19
Atlanta
W 133–114
Jerry West (39)
Wilt Chamberlain (21)
Jerry West (12)
The Forum 17,410
4–0 :
NBA Finals: 3–4 (home: 2–1; road: 1–3)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
April 24
@ New York
L 112–124
Jerry West (33)
Wilt Chamberlain (24)
Wilt Chamberlain (5)
Madison Square Garden 19,500
0–1
2
April 27
@ New York
W 105–103
Jerry West (34)
Wilt Chamberlain (24)
Garrett, Erickson (6)
Madison Square Garden 19,500
1–1
3
April 29
New York
L 108–111 (OT)
Jerry West (34)
Wilt Chamberlain (26)
Elgin Baylor (11)
The Forum 17,500
1–2
4
May 1
New York
W 121–115 (OT)
Jerry West (37)
Wilt Chamberlain (25)
Jerry West (18)
The Forum 17,509
2–2
5
May 4
@ New York
L 100–107
Wilt Chamberlain (22)
Wilt Chamberlain (19)
Keith Erickson (6)
Madison Square Garden 19,500
2–3
6
May 6
New York
W 135–113
Wilt Chamberlain (45)
Wilt Chamberlain (27)
Jerry West (13)
The Forum 17,509
3–3
7
May 8
@ New York
L 99–113
Jerry West (28)
Wilt Chamberlain (24)
Keith Erickson (6)
Madison Square Garden 19,500
3–4 :
1970 schedule :

## Awards and records

* Jerry West, All-NBA First Team
* Jerry West, NBA All-Defensive First Team
* Jerry West, NBA All-Star Game
* Elgin Baylor, NBA All-Star Game
* Dick Garrett, NBA All-Rookie Team 1st Team