On a night that saw Miami’s Superteam beat by the defending Eastern Conference champs, I was able to attend the Lakers 2010 Season Opener vs the Houston Rockets.
As always, it was an amazing experience, but the sight of seeing the players receive their championship rings as well as watching them hoist up their 16th championship banner sent chills down my spine.
Here are some thoughts, comments, and suggestions from the night:
In case you haven’t heard, the Lakers have upgraded their old JumboTron screen which hangs above the court and replaced it with an HD screen. My verdict? Definitely an improvement, and it looks pretty awesome.
David Stern was in the house to present the championship rings to the players. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience and it’s impossible to describe the feeling that was in the arena. Those who watched on TV, this was one moment that I truly felt “you had to be there” to get the full effect. See my video below for the end of the ring ceremony and also the banner raising ceremony.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_mX2znMQ2M
Next: The 16 Banners
The rafters look very vibrant with 16 championship banners, including the banners from other LA franchises. It humors me how certain teams, such as the Sacramento Kings, hang “Pacific Division Champions” up on their wall. To me that’s equivalent to putting up a banner that says “I Made it to Kumite Day 3” in your home.
Player intros, in my opinion, are underrated. I’m sure the Lakers have one of the best intros in the league, but I wish they would have better music. Part of the reason Michael Jordan’s player intro was so awesome was because of the music. I’m not going to complain about the Lakers’ choice, but I think they should find something unique, inspiring, and definitely EPIC. Check out the video below for the player intros for both teams from last night.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy7kHUo6O8s
Upon finding out that the Celtics defeated the Heat, I had 3 reactions.
1. Looks like basing your team on the admittedly impressive talent of three players isn’t exactly a surefire way to win games. Good defense is though.
2. Boston’s still got it. This was pretty much a big “eff you” from the Celtics to the Heat. The Celtics are the defending Eastern Conference champs until someone takes it away from them. The Heat are going to see alot more of this down the road. Teams are gonna play their best when they match up against the Heat, just like what happens when teams play the Lakers.
3. This is the first game of the season, it really doesn’t mean anything.
Laker girls, as always, were totally awesome and sexy. For many of their performances last night, they were dressed in oversized Laker Ts. They only got sexy for one dance, luckily I recorded it. Watch the video below for a Laker girls performance from last night (minus the last 10 seconds when the idiot in front of me stood up.)
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI6miSSJ_co
Next: Chick Hearn and Final Thoughts
Why don’t the Lakers play a audio recording of Chick Hearn “putting the game in the refrigerator?” What better way to honor the late, great, Chick Hearn than by playing his voice at the end of each home victory? For basically every Laker fan over the age of 15, Chick Hearn is THE Lakers broadcaster. His consecutive games streak, his oral ability, and the fact that he invented most basketball slang (he invented the term slam-dunk) are just some of the reasons why he’s so beloved by Laker fans.
They could prepare an audio clip with a short video to play on the JumboTron, and they could play it when each Lakers’ victory is ensured. They could give Stu Lantz the button to activate “The Refrigerator.” I could see dozens of reasons why this might not be a good idea, but I can see even more reasons why it would be a great idea.
It’s the first game of the season, so I’m not going to get too excited or disappointed by how they play. The Lakers looked to be one-step-behind for much of the game on defense. It looked like they came into the game on cruise control and stepped on the pedal just enough to escape with a victory. Offensively they looked fine, with Shannon Brown and Steve Blake hitting some timely shots. I don’t think anybody in the building thought that the most critical shots of the game would be made by those two guys.
There have been rumors that the Lakers might be content to sail through the regular season to make sure they’re healthy and peaking by the playoffs. While this is a smart strategy for an old veteran team such as the Celtics, I don’t think this will do at all for the Lakers. Home court advantage will be more important than ever, as we saw the Lakers needed a game 7 at home to win the championship last year. Especially with a lack of title contenders in the west (but with a LOT of quality teams), the Lakers should be focused on winning 60 games and trying to secure home court advantage for the entire playoffs. If they don’t, I’d say their championship chances drop drastically.
Since this was the first game of the season, I’m not going to put much weight into how the Lakers’ performed. Obviously, this kind of defensive inattention will not win us the championship, but they did win the game against a gritty and talented Houston Rockets team. The Lakers didn’t play up to their full potential, but then again, they rarely do.
Bottom line: 1 down, 81 to go.