Got Los Angeles Lakers Tickets? Congratulations, You’re a Winner!
You don’t have to love the Lakers, but it’s hard not to when you get to know them. This super-team has gone through some wild swings of fame and fortune, and part of their allure is that they’re still swinging! For sixty-three years they have been up and down in the basketball firmament, and following their career is absolutely fascinating for lovers of the game.
The Los Angeles Lakers history goes back to the time before NBA existed. When the team first came on the scene in 1947 they were the Detroit Gems. The Gems’ performance, however, did not shine, and the team was sold for $15,000. They were moved to Minneapolis and the name changed to The Lakers, since that’s the “Land of 10,000 Lakes”. Then a really good thing happened: they got first pick in the draft and won the championship in their very first season as Lakers.
The 1950′s brought major triumphs and major disappointments. Players left or were traded for new ones, coaches came and went, and in general a lot of changes occurred, but out of six appearances in the Finals, the Lakers came away with the championship five times. They were definitely a team to be noticed!
The news really starts in 1960, when the Lakers moved to Los Angeles and kept the name, (even with the scarcity of lakes in the vicinity). During the 1960′s the team gained the legendary Wilt Chamberlain, and in ’62 they made the NBA finals, but lost to the team Lakers fans love to hate, the Boston Celtics.
The Lakers got to the Finals eight times during the 1960′s, and each time they fought a battle royal, but they lost, eight times. Did that faze them? Not so anyone would notice. They won 33 consecutive games in 1971, a record which still stands in every major professional sport. During the rest of the ?70′s, aside from the excitement the team never failed to bring to the games, a couple of events stand out. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and later Earvin “Magic” Johnson were added to the mix of players, and TV commentator Pat Riley was hired as assistant coach. Riley moved up, of course, to the head coach position, and what a marvelous job he did!
Early in the 1990′s the Lakers ran into Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, much to their chagrin. They were aced out of a championship in ’92 by the Portland Trail Blazers, and again in ’93, this time by the Phoenix Suns. Magic Johnson tried coaching for a while, but it wasn’t his forte, and he stepped down, to be replaced by Del Harris. But wait for it! During off-season in 1996, the Lakers signed free agent Shaquille O’Neal, and traded for rookie Kobe Bryant. The team’s fortunes went up and down again during the rest of the 90′s; some days they played poorly, some days brilliantly, but almost always put on a thrilling and dramatic performance.
The turn of the century marked another turning point for the Los Angeles Lakers. In 2000 they moved to their new home at the Staples Center, where they still reign (though they share the space with other teams) They also got a brilliant new coach in Phil Jackson, and a new system they call the “triangle offense”. The drama continued unabated, and Shaquille O’Neal won his third consecutive Finals MVP award. Phil Jackson earned his ninth head coach championship, but was retired from the Lakers and replaced by Rudy Tomjanovich. He came back, however, when Tomjanovich resigned in the middle of the season.
Through 2008 the team kept having internal strife, not least with Kobe Bryant threatening to forsake the team due to personal disagreements. The word is that some helpful ?bonding’ went on during training camp in Hawaii, when Lamar Odom hired a special chef for the teams’ meals. Maybe that didn’t make a big difference, but something certainly keeps this team out there winning!
The Los Angeles Lakers have gone through some “glory days” and some fairly dark nights; key players have suffered injury or just dissatisfaction and gone elsewhere, but sometimes returned, and coaches have been both mediocre and superb. This team has a lot of history, and it’s all fascinating. The bottom line right now is: the Lakers just keep on winning!
Get yourself some tickets to see the Lakers at home, and join some starry company.Maybe the proximity of the Hollywood Hills has something to do with it, but fans of the Lakers 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!
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