The gold banners shimmered in the rafters of Crypto.com Arena on Sunday afternoon. They were shown on the video board repeatedly, on the NBC broadcast, and during the halftime celebration of former Lakers coach Pat Riley who helped hang four of them during his tenure.
The afternoon was supposed to be a celebration for the Hall of Fame coach. A love letter to the Lakers’ Showtime era. A purple-and-gold victory lap against their hated rivals.
Instead, it turned into a public mugging.
The afternoon began with pomp, circumstance and a bronze grin. Riley poised besidehis newly unveiled statue,Armani suit pressed, hair slicked back as if time had never dared touch it. The architect of the Lakers’ golden 1980s. The man who beat Boston twice on the sport’s grandest stage. The maestro of flair and fast breaks.
“The time has come to kick some Boston ass,” Rileydeclared before tipoff,the words hanging in the air like cigar smoke.
Because by the time the final buzzer mercifully sounded, it was the Celtics who had done the ass-kicking — 111-89,a 22-point dismantlingthat felt even more lopsided than the scoreboard suggested. On a day meant to celebrate the Lakers’ dominance over their oldest rival, Boston walked into Los Angeles and treated it like a home game.
And at times, it sounded like one, too.
You could hear it in the second quarter when the green jerseys sprinkled throughout the lower bowl began to rise in unison. You could feel it midway through the third, when every made 3 by Payton Pritchard was greeted with a roar that cut through the building. By the fourth quarter, as the Lakers trailed by 20 and fans in gold streamed toward the exits, a full-throated “Let’s go Celtics!” chant echoed through the arena. In Los Angeles no less.
A "Let's go Celtics" chant has broken out at the Crypt. Absolutely ugly loss.
That is not just a loss. That is a cultural bruise.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
