The Los Angeles Lakers show! Do not miss it!
There may not be a lukewarm basketball fan, but if there is, it surely isn’t a Los Angeles Lakers fan. If you’re a fan and have followed the Lakers for a while, you’ve witnessed some of the most amazing, edge-of-your-seat or standup performances in basketball history.
The history of the team dates back to 1946, before the NBA existed. Then it was the National Basketball League, and the team started out as the Detroit Gems. However, they didn’t start to shine until they moved to Minneapolis and the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” and became… guess what? The Lakers. The team went on to win the national championship in their first season of play as the soon to be well-known Lakers.
The 1950s brought great triumphs and great disappointments. Players left or were traded for new ones, coaches came and went, and overall a lot of changes happened, but out of six Finals appearances, the Lakers took the championship five times. They were definitely a team to be noticed!
It’s interesting that when the team moved to Los Angeles in 1960, the name stayed the same and they became the Los Angeles Lakers (despite the lack of lakes) and, by gosh, they’ve been ever since. They really started getting a lot of attention when Wilt Chamberlain became part of the team and they made it to the NBA Finals in 1962. Most fans will know the result of that: The Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics, not for the first time. !
The Lakers reached the Finals eight times during the 1960s, and each time they fought a battle royal, but lost eight times. Did that puzzle you? Not so that no one would notice. They won 33 straight games in 1971, a record that still stands in all major professional sports. Throughout the rest of the 1970s, in addition to the excitement the team never failed to bring to games, a couple of events stand out. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and later Earvin “Magic” Johnson were added to the mix of players, and television commentator Pat Riley was hired as an assistant coach. Riley rose, of course, to the position of head coach, and what a wonderful job he did!
The Lakers met the team that had become their archrival again in 1984. The Boston Celtics beat them in the Finals, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar set an NBA record anyway. When the Lakers and Celtics met in the 1985 Finals at Boston Gardens, Kareem, then 37, provided a huge assist and the Lakers eventually beat his nemesis at the Celtics’ home turf. The victory celebration for players and fans alike was something to behold!
In 2000, the Los Angeles Lakers moved their home base from the Forum in Inglewood to the Staples Center in Los Angeles, which seems to suit them. They also hired trainer Phil Jackson who, like former trainer Pat Riley, has set all-time records in the industry. As the 2000s wore on, the Lakers incorporated some moves they call the “triangle offense,” and the excitement kept rolling. . Shaquille O’Neal was awarded Finals MVP for the third year in a row, and coach Phil Jackson earned his ninth Head Coach of the Championship award.
Throughout their history, life behind the scenes for the Lakers has been fraught with drama and often dissension. There are many stories that have never been told (and probably never will be). However, what remains of most interest to their fans is how they bounce back from disaster and snatch victory from almost certain defeat.
The Los Angeles Lakers have been through some “glory days” and some pretty dark nights; Key players were injured or just dissatisfied and went elsewhere, but sometimes they came back, and the coaches were mediocre as well as excellent. This team has a lot of history, and it’s all fascinating. The bottom line at this point is: the Lakers are still winning!
Get yourself some Lakers home tickets and join some stellar company. Maybe the proximity of the Hollywood Hills has something to do with it, but Lakers fans don’t seem to care too much where they sit at Staples Center. . They’re on their feet most of the time anyway, yelling along with thousands of other fans, “GO LAKERS!”