Live Bar, June 17th recently, NBA celebrity Jerry West talked about the finals experience in the Podcast P with Paul George podcasting program.
Jerry West said: “One thing still bothers me now is that we have entered the finals so many times but only won once. When I was 28 years old, I thought about giving up. It was too painful. I let the city down. I performed better in the playoffs than in the regular season. I did win once, but that was meaningless to me.”
West entered the finals nine times, among which he lost to Celtics six times, lost to Knicks twice and won the championship one time.
During his 14-year career as a player, West was elected to the NBA All-Star team 14 times in a row and was elected NBA All-Star MVP in 1972. He was selected as the best team for 12 times (10 times for a while and 2 times for a second time). He was selected as the best defensive team in NBA for 4 times in 1970-73. He won the NBA scoring king in 1970 and the NBA supporting King in 1972. In the 1968-69 season, West became the only player in NBA history who won the NBA Finals MVP(FMVP) as a loser. After that, he won the only NBA championship with the Lakers in 1972.