russell westbrook won the nba mvp of the regular season.
russell westbrook won the nba mvp of the regular season.
who won the nba mvp of the regular season?
russell westbrook
Na
Na
both the pistons and lakers were considered to be the two best teams in the nba entering the 1989 nba finals. behind the no-nonsense leadership of head coach chuck daly, detroit finished with a franchise best 63–19 record, which was also the best record in the league. after sweeping both the boston celtics 3-0 in the first round, and the milwaukee bucks 4-0 in the second round, the pistons eliminated michael jordan and the chicago bulls in 6 games in the eastern conference finals. meanwhile, los angeles suffered slight slippage in the regular season, finishing with a 57–25 record. however, the lakers, who still finished first in the western conference, compiled an outstanding 11-0 record in the postseason, sweeping the portland trail blazers, seattle supersonics, and phoenix suns en route to the finals. magic johnson also earned his second nba mvp award (johnson, who had already won the award in 1987, would receive his third nba mvp title in 1990). as the finals began, l.a. was once again favored to eliminate detroit and successfully three-peat as champions. however, the pistons were determined to prove that they were ready to overcome the sting of coming up short the previous year, and win the nba title. l.a.'s hopes for another championship took a turn for the worse when byron scott and johnson both suffered season-ending hamstring injuries. the pistons' physical style of play and superior defense also proved to be too much for the lakers to overcome, as detroit swept los angeles in 4 games and captured their 1st ever nba championship. pistons shooting guard joe dumars was awarded nba finals mvp honors. after the series, abdul-jabbar retired. the series would also turn out to be the final time that pat riley would make an appearance in the nba finals as head coach of the lakers. this also marked the first time that the nba finals ended in a 4-game sweep since the finals went to the current 2–3–2 format back in 1985. the pistons successfully defended their crown the following season. they defeated the trail blazers in the 1990 nba finals 4–1 to repeat as nba champions.
lakers–pistons rivalry