Elgin Baylor Takes the Lakers to NBA Finals Year After Year but Without Success

Jerry West rose to prominence the following season in 1961–62, and the duo played better and better together. Unfortunately, Elgin Baylor was called up for active duty by the army that season.

Stationed in Washington, Baylor was only able to play when on a weekend pass. He can only play 48 games during a season in which he cannot participate in team practices.

Thus, Elgin Baylor arrives directly on weekends to play only official Laker games.

This does not prevent him from further improving his point average to 38.3 points per game. He still adds 18.6 rebounds per game. Elgin Baylor, with the help of Jerry West, is helping the Lakers reach the playoffs where the team will go all the way to the NBA Finals.

Bill Russell and coach Red Auerbach’s Boston Celtics are still ahead of them. These Celtics have been undefeated in the NBA Finals since their 1959 victory over the Elgin Baylor Minneapolis Lakers.

So everyone is looking forward to this game. Elgin Baylor is expected at the turn as well.

The series is much more competitive than the 1959 NBA Finals. Elgin Baylor is at the top of his game, and he is desperate to win the supreme title he so misses.

In the fifth game in Boston, Elgin Baylor gave everything he had to allow his Lakers to take what he thought was a decisive advantage. In a Homeric game, Elgin Baylor scored 61 points and 22 rebounds to give the Lakers a 126–121 win over the Celtics.

That performance on April 14, 1962 is the best scoring game ever in the NBA Finals.

The Lakers return to Los Angeles with a home game that must see Elgin Baylor finally reach the Holy Grail. Unfortunately, the Celtics are stronger as a team than the Lakers, who can only rely on the duo of Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. Bill Russell scored a triple-double with 19 points, 24 rebounds and 10 assists, while Sam Jones scored 35 points. Six Celtics players exceed 13 points.

The series will return to Boston for a seventh electric game.

The tension is at its height, and the two teams will go head to head in a legendary game. Elgin Baylor has a great game scoring 41 points and 22 rebounds. Unfortunately, the Celtics defense was not letting him down and he was unsuccessful on shots as he missed 27 of the 40 shots he took.

On the other hand, Bill Russell lived up to his reputation by getting the right game at the right time: 30 points and 40 rebounds for the MVP of the Finals and helping the Celtics win a fourth straight NBA title.

The following year was no different. Freed from his military duties, Elgin Baylor plays all of the Lakers’ games. His stats are always exceptional with 34.0 points and 14.3 rebounds per game. Alongside him, Jerry West is now emerging at 27.1 points per game.

However, at the end of the season, the Lakers still have to lose to Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals to win their fifth straight title.

The 1963–1964 season marked a turning point in Elgin Baylor’s career. A very athletic player, Elgin Baylor began to pay for the great strain he had put on his knees since the beginning of his career. He misses several games during the season and his play will never be so aerial again.

Despite his concerns, Elgin Baylor remains an extraordinary player who continues to perform at a high level. In 1965, Elgin Baylor still scored more than 27 points per game with more than 12 rebounds per game.

He led the Lakers to the NBA Finals again, but still had to lose to the Boston Celtics. The final is a one-way final, with the Celtics winning 4–1.

Continuing to play despite his recurring knee problems, Elgin Baylor suffered a serious knee injury in the 1965 playoffs.

His 1965–1966 season was a statistically tricky one. Elgin Baylor turned in 16.6 points and 9.6 rebounds per game.

Luckily, Jerry West has been on the rise and is now turning in 31.3 points per game. Behind him, the Lakers team is much better than before. Elgin Baylor is back in health at the end of the season and will sign playoffs worthy of his status despite still sore knees.

The Lakers reached the NBA Finals and pushed Celtics to the limit. The legendary clash ends in Game 7 in Boston. Behind a Bill Russell with 25 points and 32 rebounds, the Celtics won by only 2 points in a defensive game that ended 95–93.

Elgin Baylor and Jerry West had never come this close to taking down the Celtics before.

Over the next four seasons, Elgin Baylor regained some of his level of play which allowed him to turn in over 24 points and 10 rebounds per game. In his wake, and that of Jerry West, the Lakers reached the NBA finals twice again in 1968 and 1969.

Each time, it was the Celtics who prevented the legendary duo from finally winning the title.

Meanwhile, Wilt Chamberlain joined the Lakers in the 1968–69 season. The arrival of the world’s best player to the Lakers gave them an extraordinary trio with three of the greatest NBA players of all time.

With this trio in control, the Lakers reached the final again in 1970. This time, it wasn’t the Celtics that they faced, but the New York Knicks, led by Walt Frazier. In the small world of the NBA, everyone thinks it is finally Elgin Baylor’s time.

He’s 35 years old, and everyone feels that his level of play is declining year after year while his physique spares him less and less. These NBA Finals against the Knicks are probably his last chance.

The final is a tough one, and it ends in New York City for a seventh game in which Walt Frazier will go down in history as the Knicks’ first ever title. Frazier scored 36 points that night at 12/17 on shots, took 7 rebounds, but mostly delivered 19 assists.

Against him, Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, and Elgin Baylor did not disappoint, but they couldn’t make the grade.

Injured in the knee again, Elgin Baylor missed most of the 1970–71 season, and many were betting on a retirement.