Schedule and 2001 Results
Regular Season Records: Los Angeles 56-26, Philadelphia 56-26
Game 1 on Wednesday, 06 June: Philadelphia wins at Los Angeles in OT, 107-pts-101
Game 2 on Friday, 08 June: Philadelphia loses at Los Angeles, 98-pts-89
Game 3 on Sunday, 10 June: Los Angeles wins at Philadelphia, 96-pts-91
Game 4 on Wednesday, 13 June: Los Angeles wins at Philadelphia, 100-pts-86
Game 5 on Friday, 15 June: Los Angeles wins at Philadelphia, 108-pts-96

OVERALL SUBSTANCE: Lakers defeat Philadelphia LWWWW:
The Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Philadelphia 76ers in five games, LWWWW, to win best-of-7 series 844. The LWWWW series victory is the sixth in best-of-7 NBA Finals series, the tenth in all NBA best-of-7 series, and the 37th in all NHL, NBA, and MLB best-of-7 series.

SERIES NOTES: Game 5: Los Angeles defeats the Sixers in Philadelphia, 108-pts-96, to win series 844 by a 4-games-1 margin; six times now has a team won an NBA Finals round LWWWW, with the Minneapolis/L.A. Lakers winning three such series (in 1953, 1972, and 2001); ten times now has a team won an NBA series (any round) LWWWW, with the Minneapolis/L.A. Lakers winning five such series; the Lakers trailed by three points after 1Q on the road -- in Game 5 of the 1963 NBA Finals, the Lakers also trailed by three points after 1Q on the road (in Boston vs. the Celtics), and also rebounded to win the game; the 2001 Lakers thus become the fourth NBA team to win Games 3-5 of a best-of-7 series, all on the road -- the previous three were the 1953 Minneapolis Lakers, the 1990 Detroit Pistons, and the 1991 Chicago Bulls (the last in L.A. vs. the Lakers) . . . Game 4: Los Angeles defeats the Sixers in Philadelphia, 100-pts-86, to take a 3-games-1 lead in series 844; in best-of-7 NBA playoff series, 49 times has a team won Games 3 and 4 on the road -- of those 49 times, the Minneapolis-Los Angeles Lakers have now accomplished the feat a league-leading 17 times (a distant second are the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls, each with only 6 -- the Montreal Canadiens lead the NHL with 31, while the New York Yankees lead MLB teams with 11); the Lakers led the game by 18 points after the third quarter -- in the 1575 best-of-7 NBA playoff games from 1947 through 2000, when the road team (Los Angeles in this case) led by 17 or 18 points after three quarters, its game record was a perfect 21-0; no team in the best-of-7 NBA Finals has ever rebounded from a 3-games-1 deficit to win the series; the last NBA team to rebound from any 3-games-1 deficit to win a best-of-7 series was the Miami Heat in series 739 (in the 1997 Qtrs vs. New York); the last NBA team to rebound from a WLLL deficit to win a best-of-7 series was (ironically) the Los Angeles Lakers in series 227 (in the 1970 Qtrs vs. Phoenix) . . . Game 3: Los Angeles defeats the Sixers in Philadelphia, 96-pts-91, to take a series 844 Game 3 lead of 2-games-1; in best-of-7 Finals playoffs, precedents for a Lakers series victory for teams beginning LWW @ HHV were set by (among others) the 1953 Minneapolis Lakers, the 1972 Los Angeles Lakers, and the 1988 Los Angeles Lakers; in best-of-7 Finals playoffs, precedents for a Sixers series victory for teams beginning WLL @ VVH were set by no NBA teams; outside of the NBA Finals, however, there are precedents that do favor a Sixers series win: in series 592, the Boston Celtics opened the 1991 Qtrs LWW @ HHV, but lost the series to the Detroit Pistons; when site is ignored, the Sixers find another precedent -- in the 1962 NBA Finals, the L.A. Lakers also opened the series LWW, but lost the series to the Boston Celtics; when down 2-games-1 in a best-of-7 series, the Philadelphia 76ers have only a 2-10 record, but the two wins have come during the 2001 NBA Qtrs (vs. Toronto) and Semis (vs. Milwaukee); with the win, the Los Angeles Lakers improve their best-of-7 Finals Game 3 record to 10-10 (4-4 on the road); with the loss, the Philadelphia 76ers drop their best-of-7 Finals Game 3 record to 1-5 (0-2 at home) . . . Game 2: Los Angeles defeats Philadelphia 98-pts-89 to even series 844 at 1-game-all; Los Angeles led by ten points after three quarters -- in the 1575 best-of-7 NBA playoff games from 1947 through 2000, teams leading by ten after 3Q posted a 67-0 game record; once before in best-of-7 NBA playoff series did a team win Game 1 by six points and lose Game 2 by nine points (as Philadelphia has in series 844): the Chicago Bulls did so in series 545 (a 1989 Semis series vs. Detroit -- Chicago lost that series 4-games-2 to the eventual champion Pistons) . . . Game 1: Philadelphia defeats the Lakers in Los Angeles in OT, 107-pts-101; the loss drops the L.A. Lakers' overall best-of-7 Finals game record to 50-63 (31-26 at home), while the win improves the Sixers' overall best-of-7 Finals game record to 15-14 (6-9 on the road); the L.A. Lakers now have a best-of-7 Finals Game 1 record of 9-11 (5-3 at home), while the Sixers now have a best-of-7 Finals Game 1 record of 4-2 (1-1 on the road); in best-of-7 NBA series from 1947 through 2000, teams winning Game 1 by six points posted a 10-5 series record and a 5-2 Finals series record; series 844 is the fifth best-of-7 series in which the Philadelphia 76ers won Game 1 by six points -- the Sixers' five such best-of-7 Game 1 wins are an NBA high . . . Pre-series: Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Lakers finished the 2000-01 regular season with identical 56-26 won-lost records, but the Lakers gain home court advantage through tiebreakers; in best-of-7 NBA history from 1947 through the 2001 NBA Semis, when two playoff opponents finished with identical regular season records, the team playing at home in Game 1 had a 5-4 series record (2-1 in the Finals) and a 6-3 Game 1 record (3-0 in the Finals).