The Week That Was | NBA Playoff Preview & Recap | The 1980 Los Angeles Lakers

The Oklahoma City Thunder has punched their ticket to the NBA Finals as they dismantled the Minnesota Timberwolves by score of 124-94 in Game 5 at home. The Thunder will be making their second NBA Finals appearance since they relocated from Seattle.

Now can the Thunder hold it down and win a NBA championship finally for the Thunder franchise led by Shai Gilgeous Alexander the league MVP, this team dangerously formidable especially when Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren are on their A game. This team is complete when it comes to their defense and offense they have great defensive players like Alex Caruso so once the Thunder clicks who can beat this irresistible force.

This NBA Finals is the Oklahoma City Thunder Invitational because it don't matter who wins the Eastern Conference Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks because the Thunder are just better from top to bottom. For The Minnesota Timberwolves who appeared in the Western Conference Finals for 2 consecutive years where do they go from here obviously trading Karl Anthony Towns was a good move because despite the trade, the Timberwolves still was able to get back to the Western Conference Finals. Anthony Edwards is still young so he will have ample opportunities to win a NBA championship just have to work on his post moves in the post basically develop a post game. Obviously Edwards has that dynamic athletic prowess but if he adds more to his game watch out NBA.

The Eastern Conference Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks now comes down to a Game 6 in Indiana on Saturday May 31st. Can the Knicks stave off elimination by forcing a Game 7? Obviously Saturday's Game 6 will answer the question. This series has been very weird due to the lack of home court advantage and blown leads. This shows that these two teams are not on the same caliber as the Oklahoma City Thunder.

45 years ago on May 16th 1980,the 1980 Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA Championship for the first time since the legendary great team in 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers team that won 69 games led by Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain beating the New York Knicks in 5 games. Yes Kareem Abdul Jabbar came to the Los Angeles Lakers in a trade but no championships until Earvin "Magic" Johnson came to the team as a rookie and brought a jolt of joy and passion for the game to the Los Angeles Lakers. Led by Head Coach Jack McKinney who introduced an up-tempo style of play that will be known as Showtime.

Unfortunately Jack was involved in a near fatal bicycling accident on November 8th so his replacement as head coach was Paul Westhead and Pat Riley was the assistant coach. The Lakers would win 60 games. In the playoffs ,the Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns in 5 games in Western Conference Semifinals then knocked off the defending champions Seattle Supersonics in 5 games to advance to the NBA Finals and play the Philadelphia 76ers led by Julius Erving.

The Lakers would win in 6 games as Magic Johnson would have his coming out party:42 points,15 rebounds, and 7 assists in the clincher as Kareem Abdul Jabbar was injured with a sprained ankle. Magic Johnson was MVP as the final score was 123-107 plus Jamaal Wilkes scored 37 points. Overall the series win for the Lakers was the beginning of the Showtime era.