Playoffs 2000:Lakers honored by city of Los Angeles

Lakers honored by city of Los Angeles
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- Where stores were looted and police cars burned two days earlier, a quarter-million Los Angeles Lakers fans hailed the new NBA champions Wednesday in an adoring sea of purple and gold.


	Kobe Bryant of the Lakers celebrates with the fans on Wednesday.

"Thank you for that parade and for that warm outburst of love from you to us. That was wonderful. That just shows what you can do in two days, right?" Lakers coach Phil Jackson told the throng gathered at Staples Center.

The fans, joyously celebrating the city's first pro title of any kind in 12 years, heard speeches from the mayor, promises of more titles and a pledge from the biggest star of the day in every way, Shaquille O'Neal.

The 7-foot-1, 330-pound Lakers center promised another title -- and two new police cars.

"The other night after the game, a couple of bad things happened, a couple of people trashed two police cars. So on behalf of the Lakers and Phil Jackson, we're going to get them two new police cars," O'Neal said after winning the first championship ring of his eight NBA seasons.

"We want to say that when we get one (championship) next year, we just want to be safe, we want everybody to be safe and do the right thing because we're going to get one next year, too."

There were a few minor incidents after the parade, police officer Dan Cox said. A group of young men, many wearing Lakers' jerseys, pounded on a bus and stole food from a catering truck 12 blocks south of the arena before police rounded them up.

Fans along the parade route, however, felt safe.

"I had no reservations at all about coming out today," said Dorothy Rhan, in the crowd that stretched nine blocks to the Lakers' home at Staples.

"I love it. It's wonderful," Rhan said. "L.A. has its unity now and it's all due to the Lakers."

A mob looted stores, smashed windows and torched police cars and news vans outside the arena after the Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers 116-111 for the NBA crown. Eleven people were arrested and four police officers were hurt.

Police vowed zero tolerance for parade violence and a highly visible force of more than 300 officers, many in riot gear, was stationed along Figueroa Street. Nearby reinforcements were brought in when the crowd closed in on the parade and temporarily halted it.

Jackson, a veteran of six NBA championship parades when he coached Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, said: "We appreciate this a lot. This is for the city of L.A. We are starting a new millennium right now."

Signs in the crowd called it a "new Phillennium."

Mayor Richard Riordan, booed during his brief appearance with the Lakers at Staples, declared it Laker Day.

Then, it was time for O'Neal, who swept Most Valuable Player honors in the regular season, the All-Star Game and the NBA Finals, to make his brief speech.

Speaking on a balcony at Staples to the thousands gathered in a parking lot across from the arena, O'Neal said, "Can you dig it?" and the crowd responded with cheers and chants of "MVP! MVP!"

O'Neal earlier declared that his era as "The Big Aristotle," spouting philosophy, was over.

"I want to be known as 'The Big Shakespeare,"' he said. "Because it was Shakespeare that said, 'Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them,' and it was great doing it this year for the city and for everybody else. And we're going to try to get one next year. I love you."

Fans had staked out prime spots along the parade route during the night and several thousand were on hand by dawn. By the 11:15 a.m. start, people squeezed 20 and 30 people deep on Figueroa.

Sunshine bathed the jubilant crowd on the first full day of summer. Many wore purple-and-gold Lakers colors and hoisted signs reading "Honk for Kobe Bryant," "Lakers rule 2000," "AC Green, Will you marry me?" and "Bling Bling."

"Bling Bling" was O'Neal's explanation for the sound made when light bounces off a diamond NBA championship ring.

Five open-air, double-deck buses carried the team, politicians, family members and the Laker Girls down Figueroa through a blizzard of purple and gold confetti. Players blew kisses, fans blew horns. Everyone waved, smiled and cheered.

One sign spanning a bridge read, "It's only the beginning!"