The Los Angeles Lakers entered the 2008-09 season as the defending Western Conference Champions, having lost to the Boston Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals. The Lakers brought back the majority of the roster from their Finals appearance, and had the benefit of Andrew Bynum, who had been injured during the 2008 Finals.

The Lakers opened the season with seven consecutive wins, and entered December with a record of 14-1, opening up a 3.5-game cushion on the rest of the conference. In December, the Lakers lost two straight games for the first time all season, but also snapped the Boston Celtics 19-game win streak with a win on Christmas Day.

The Lakers were cruising through January, despite losing back-to-back games for only the second time all season, but got some bad news on the final day of the month. In a game against the Grizzlies, Kobe Bryant accidentally rolled into Andrew Bynum's knee, resulting in a sprain that forced Bynum to miss nearly the rest of the season.

Despite Bynum's absence, Los Angeles continued to run away with the Pacific Division and the Western Conference as a whole, even trading Vladimir Radmanovic, who had fallen out of the rotation, to the Bobcats for Adam Morrison and Shannon Brown. The Lakers became the first team to win in Cleveland all season, ending the Cavaliers 23-game home win streak.

Kobe Bryant earned a starting spot in the 2009 All-Star Game. Bryant was joined on the roster by Pau Gasol, who earned his second All-Star appearance in his first full season with the Lakers. Phil Jackson coached the West All-Stars to a win, led by a co-MVP performance by Bryant and former Laker Shaquille O'Neal.

Following the All-Star Game, the Lakers ripped off six consecutive wins, building a bigger cushion in the Western Conference. L.A. was locked into a battle with Cleveland for the best record in the league. The Lakers clinched their division on March 12 and locked up the West's top seed on March 27. They finished the season with 65 wins, one short of the Cavaliers, but good enough for their best record since '99-00.

The Lakers opened the 2009 Playoffs against the 8th-seeded Utah Jazz. L.A. won the first two games at home easily, before the series shifted to Utah. The Jazz won Game 3 on a game-winning shot by Deron Williams, after the Lakers had led the game big. The Lakers easily won the next two games, but lost Luke Walton due to a partially torn ligament in his left ankle.

In the conference semifinals, the Lakers faced the Houston Rockets, who had upset the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round. The Lakers struggled in Game 1, losing by eight points for their first home loss of the 2009 Playoffs. They bounced back in Game 2, a physical game marked by the ejections of Derek Fisher (for a flagrant foul) and Ron Artest (for technical fouls). Kobe Bryant, Luis Scola, Lamar Odom and Luke Walton, who returned from his injury in Game 2, also picked up technical fouls. Fisher was suspended for Game 3 in Houston, but the Lakers won without him to retake homecourt advantage. Late in that game, Yao Ming suffered a fractured foot, and was lost for the remainder of the series. Even without Yao, the Rockets were able to win Game 4, to tie the series at 2-2. In Game 5, the Lakers won by 40 points, handing Houston its worst playoff defeat. However, the Lakers were not able to finish off the Rockets in Houston, being forced to go to a decisive Game 7, which they won easily.

Facing the well-rested Nuggets in the Conference Finals, the Lakers fell behind early in Game 1, but came back behind a strong performance by Kobe Bryant (40 points, 18 in the fourth quarter) to take a 1-0 series lead. The reverse situation played out in Game 2, with the Lakers taking a big lead, but the Nuggets coming from behind to steal a three-point win in Los Angeles. In Denver, the Lakers ended the Nuggets 16-game home win streak, behidn a 41-point performance in Game 3. The Nuggets responded by blowing out the Lakers in Game 4, scoring 43 points in the fourth quarter to earn a 120-101 win. The Lakers bounced back in Game 5 at home, earning a 9-point win, before blowing out the Nuggets in Denver to advance to the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year, and the 30th time in franchise history.

In the NBA Finals, the Lakers won the first two games at home. Game 1 was a convincing 25 points win, but they needed overtime to win game two -- after surviving a potential game-winning layup by Courtney Lee at the buzzer. When the series shifted to Orlando for Game 3, the Magic were able to win a game, but the Lakers overcame a double-digit halftime deficit in Game 4, taking a commanding 3-1 lead. In Game 5, the Magic stormed out of the gates, leading by as many as nine points, but by halftime the Lakers had taken a 10-point lead, and went on to win by 13 points, clinching their 15th NBA Championship.

The Lakers made their 30th appearance in the NBA Finals in 2009, more than any other team in NBA history. The Lakers 15NBA titles are the second most in the league's history, behind only the 17 of the Celtics.

The Lakers won their first five NBA Finals appearances, when they were based in Minneapolis. In 1959, they faced the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals for the first time, losing a Finals series for the first time in franchise history. The Lakers moved to Los Angeles the next year, and lost their next seven NBA Finals appearances, six against the Celtics and one against the New York Knicks. They did not win a Finals series in Los Angeles until 1972, agains the Knicks.

The Lakers, who made five Finals appearances in the '50s and six in the '60s, reached the Finals eight times in the 1980s, winning five championships. They faced the Philadelphia 76ers three times (2 wins), the Boston Celtics three times (2 wins) and the Detroit Pistons twice (1 win).

After appearaning in the Finals just once in the '90s (a loss to the Bulls in 1991), the Lakers returned to dominance in the 2000s. 2009 marked their sixth Finals appearance this decade. The Lakers won their first three Finals apperances in the '00s, but lost the next two times they reached the Finals, before defeating the Magic in 2009.

Minneapolis Lakers 1949-1960 Los Angeles Lakers 1961-1976 Los Angeles Lakers 1977-2001 Los Angeles Lakers 2002-PRESENT