Owner Jack Kent Cooke brought in Bill Sharman as head coach,[70] and Elgin Baylor announced his retirement early in the season after realizing that his legs were not healthy enough.[70] Sharman increased the team's discipline.[71] He introduced the concept of the shootaround, where players would arrive at the arena early in the morning before a game to practice shots.[72] They won 14 straight games in November and all 16 games played in December.[70] They won three straight to open the year of 1972 but on January 9, the Milwaukee Bucks ended their winning streak by defeating the Lakers, 120–104.[73] By winning 33 straight games, Los Angeles set a record for longest winning streak of any team in American professional sports.[74] The Lakers won 69 games that season, which stood as the NBA record for 24 years until the Chicago Bulls won 72 games in 1995–96.[75] Chamberlain averaged a low 14.8 points but led the league in rebounding at 19.2 a game.[76] West's 9.7 assists per game (apg) led the league, he also averaged more than 25 points, and was named MVP of the 1972 NBA All-Star Game.[76] The team failed to score 100 points just once all year,[77] and at the end of the season, Bill Sharman was named Coach of the Year.[78] The Lakers went on to reach the finals against the New York Knicks where they would avenge their 1970 finals loss by defeating them 4 games to 1.