1987–88 Los Angeles Lakers season

The 1987–88 season saw the Lakers win their eleventh NBA championship, defeating the Detroit Pistons in a hard-fought seven games in the NBA Finals to become the NBA's first repeat champions since the Boston Celtics did it in the 1968–69 NBA season. In doing so, the Lakers made good on Pat Riley's famous promise to repeat as champions. "I'm guaranteeing everybody here," Riley said at the civic celebrations following the Lakers’ 1987 championship win, "next year we’re gonna win it again." Before the Lakers could make good on Riley's guarantee, they swept the San Antonio Spurs in the opening round of the playoffs. The following two rounds however would not be as easy for the Lakers, but they still managed to get through a tough seven-game series against both the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference Semis and the Dallas Mavericks Western Conference Finals.

By the time the Lakers had finished their season they had played an NBA record 106 games including another record 24 playoff games, winning 77 and losing 29. The Lakers went 62–20 in the regular season and 15–9 in the playoffs, en route to their sixth NBA Championship in Los Angeles, and their 11th overall in franchise history. HoopsHype would later rank this squad as the team with the 13th easiest route to the NBA Finals championship (in terms of team records of their opponents), primarily due to the record that the Spurs had this season.

The 1988 Finals was the last time the Showtime-era Lakers won an NBA championship. It was also the final time that the franchise won a championship at The Forum. They did not win another league title until 2000, when they were playing at the Staples Center (now known as the Crypto.com Arena).

Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were all selected to play in the 1988 NBA All-Star Game held in Chicago. Pat Riley was chosen to coach the Western Conference All-Stars.

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

z – clinched division title

y – clinched division title

x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Regular season

Playoffs

Player statistics

Season

Playoffs

Awards and records

Awards

• James Worthy, NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award
• Magic Johnson, All-NBA First Team
• Michael Cooper, NBA All-Defensive First Team

All-Star

• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was named to his 18th consecutive NBA All-Star Game. He broke the All-Star scoring record during the game at Chicago Stadium
• Magic Johnson was voted to his 6th consecutive NBA All-Star Game as a starter and 8th overall
• James Worthy was voted to his 3rd consecutive NBA All-Star Game
• Pat Riley was the NBA All-Star Games Western Conference coach for the 4th consecutive time and 6th overall

Transactions

Trades

Free Agents

References

External links

• "Back to Back" – Documentary on the 1987–88 Los Angeles Lakers on YouTube