Close Door, Title in the Refrigerator

Chick Hearn climbed from his broadcasting place 17 rows above the Staples Center floor. Below, Ron Harper sprayed champagne on a few remaining fans, and they squealed and waved in delight.

As Hearn’s wife, Marge, walked ahead, he smiled. His eyes were large and joyous, his grin without bounds. For him, it was 1972 again. Or the Magic years.

Eleven championship-less seasons later, Hearn admitted that NBA titles indeed make him feel younger.

“Oh, yes,” he said. “I wanted to get up and scream with the fans. I wanted to stand up and throw confetti. But I have to remember there are Indiana fans listening out there, too. So I just report it like it is.”

As his 40th season ended all around him, through incredible noise and distraction and a hail of confetti, Hearn had sat calmly, headphones clasped over his head, doing the job. As Marge stood nearby, he had held a final box score in his hands, reading the hard evidence that the Lakers had beaten the Indiana Pacers in six games.

As Laker players and officials partied, Hearn finished it. He would take Los Angeles through the whys and the hows and the whos before accepting a handshake.

Finally, a few seconds after he completed the broadcast, Hearn smiled for a man’s snapshot, and then was off toward a postgame party with Laker officials, walking slowly, happy to talk.

“Because of the immediacy of it,” Hearn said, pointing his left thumb over his shoulder, toward the floor, “you say, ‘Oh, that’s the greatest championship of all of them.’ But then you think back.

“For a team not expected to win the West, and then win four playoff series, this has to rank with some of the best. They developed from nothing. In their first practice, I saw them running the triangle offense for the first time and I thought to myself they wouldn’t win 25 games.”

Slowly, the Lakers grasped the offense, and Hearn grasped just how well they did.

Eleven seasons without a title, he said, “It’s a long time. It feels long. It’s drawn out. But, the fan enthusiasm is back. It’s been a year to remember.”

With that, Hearn waved to Marge and they went off to celebrate.