Article:Greatest Lakers team of All-time Tournament

A proud franchise the Lakers are. Why? Because they have produced some of the best teams the NBA, nay, some of the best teams the sports world has ever seen. But, you ask dear reader: "Which Lakers team is the best ever?"

Is it the 71-72 Lakers with their unprecedented 33 game win streak? Maybe one of the great 80’s Showtime squads? Or is it the 2000-2001 Lakers with their 15 - 1 playoff run to the championship?

Thanks to whatifsports.com, Lakers Bleeding Purple and Gold will be running the Lakers End All tournament. Every Lakers team beginning with the 1951 season to last year’s disappointing 06-07 squad will be battling it out for the title of ‘LPG Best Lakers Team of All-Time’!

Tournament Setup

The earliest team in the tournament was determined based on the availability of teams in the whatifsports.com database. Seeding was based on titles won, playoff percentage, season percentage.

Championship teams were automatically seeded in the top 12. Based on the 69 -13 record and the 33 game winning streak, the 71-72 Lakers were given the #1 seed. The rest of the championship teams were seeded based on playoff percentage

The non-championship teams were seeded based on playoff percentage, you know getting it done when it matters with ties broken by regular season win percentage.

The tournament bracket is based on the NCAA National Championship tournament. With only 56 Lakers teams for this tournament, the top 8 seeds received a bye.

The first two rounds will be a three game series with the higher seed having home court. The sweet 16 and elite 8 will each be a five game series with the higher seed having home cart. The final four and the championship rounds will each be a seven game series.

Note:  This past summer I started this tournament. Unfortunately, my ADT, uh ADD, caused me to let the tournament slip to the back of my mind. In any case the first round is complete. The bracket and seedings are available here.