Fans Shoulder-to-Shoulder for Back-to-Back Champs : Downtown Becomes a Sea of Purple as Thousands Cheer Laker Parade

Wildly jubilant Lakers fans, relishing the back-to-back world basketball title promised a year ago by Coach Pat Riley, filled downtown Los Angeles in a sea of purple and gold Wednesday to hail their heroes.

“It’s party time!” Gus Corona, 29, said. “This is great; it’s the first time in 19 years. This has got to be the greatest.”

The 108-105 victory Tuesday night over the Detroit Pistons made the Los Angeles Lakers the first team since the Boston Celtics of 1969 to repeat as consecutive NBA champions.

Up to 50,000 people, festooned with balloons colored purple in honor of the National Basketball Association champions, stood along the mile-long parade route, according to police estimates.

An additional 7,500 grabbed early seats around City Hall, and that figure swelled as parade watchers followed the motorcade to the ceremony, which featured dancing Lakers cheerleaders, vocalist Jeffrey Osborne singing the national anthem and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley proclaiming Laker Day in Los Angeles.

“L.A. loves the Lakers,” said Bradley. “You are the greatest fans.”

Veteran Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told the cheering fans: “We couldn’t have done this without you. Give yourselves a hand and enjoy the party.”

More than 200 Los Angeles police officers, including 12 on horseback, were assigned to control the festivities.

Three floats led by 12 LAPD motorcycle officers carried the team members, their wives and coaches.

Series most valuable player James Worthy kicked off the parade by hoisting the championship trophy over his head as a roar went up from the crowd.

Fans hanging from balconies and parking structures flung confetti and shredded paper on the street crowd, many of them holding purple helium-filled balloons and munching on purple cotton candy.

The parade route was clogged with vendors hawking T-shirts, buttons, hot dogs and pennants. But even before the parade started, lawyers representing the NBA were seizing what they said were unauthorized shirts and caps. With copies of a federal court order in their hands, teams of attorneys, police and NBA representatives fanned out throughout downtown.

The telecast of the championship game drew a huge television audience, with the final game seen in an estimated 20.2 million homes, according to the Nielsen ratings.

Ray White, 28, and his wife, Jackie, 32, arrived three hours before the parade began to claim a spot next to the float staging area.

“I’ve never seen them before,” Ray White said. “I’m (originally) from the East Coast, (but) I’ve always been a Lakers fan. We left home at 7 (a.m.) and got here at 8. I just wanted to take some pictures for my book.”

Maggie Eliscondo, a student in the 10th grade, said that her mother had warned her to be careful of the crowd but that she had let her skip school to be downtown for the victory party.

“Last year I missed it and I was really, really sorry,” she explained. “I’ll go to school tomorrow.”

At City Hall, Chick Hearn, for years the radio and television voice of the Lakers, called the shots for the rally, introducing the players as fans chanted “Repeat, repeat, repeat ... “

It was during similar ceremonies last year that Coach Pat Riley “guaranteed” that the Lakers would repeat as champions in 1988.