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LOS ANGELES, CA - Despite the fact that the San Antonio
Spurs beat the New Jersey Nets Sunday to win the NBA championship,
hundreds of Lakers fans decided they would riot anyway.
"We lost in the playoffs and we all felt horrible,"
said longtime fan Chet Robbins as he torched a delivery van
outside the Staples Center . "But then a lot of us diehard
fans got together and decided that just because we lost doesn't
mean we can't feel the excitement of a Laker's fourth championship
victory."
The crowd was mostly peaceful until just minutes after the
game, when a group of fans began throwing debris at limousines
and smashing the windows of a sport utility vehicle and a
television news van.
Within an hour, hundreds of Lakers fans began torching cars,
looting businesses and setting bonfires in the streets around
the Staples Center. Police used pepper spray and rubber bullets
to disperse the crowd.
“It was with shame and anger that we saw a few hundred
hoodlums attempting to spoil our well-meaning, but false victory
celebration," Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn told reporters.
"These are not fans. Fans would not trash our city during
any kind of mock celebration of a Lakers fourth NBA title.”
The Mayor praised police response and said city officials
might learn some lessons from the episode that will help prepare
for future victories from unrelated sports franchises in faraway
cities.
Despite the violent chaos surrounding the Lakers' mock victory,
a much more formal mock victory party is planned for the 'Almost
Champion Lakers' Monday morning. A parade will kick off at
11 a.m. , followed by a peaceful rally at the Staples Center
at noon.
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