To Repeat: Lakers Champs

The Lakers, cementing a new reign as the best team in basketball, claimed their second straight National Basketball Assn. championship Friday night with a decisive Game 5 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

At First Union Center in Philadelphia, the team capped an often tumultuous season by defeating the 76ers, 108-96.

Some 2,400 miles to the west, a sold-out crowd watched the telecast at Staples Center, then poured onto the streets with only scattered signs of the kind of melee that erupted last June when revelers taunted police, burned cars and vandalized nearby businesses.

This time, fans waved purple-and-gold flags and tore off their shirts in celebration. They lit firecrackers and tossed sombreros. They howled and danced past rows of police officers in riot gear.

The victory gave the Lakers a 15-1 record in the playoffs, best in league history. Center Shaquille O’Neal had 29 points and was named the most valuable player of the Finals for the second year in a row.

“The first championship was just to get the monkey off my back,” O’Neal said. “The ones that I get from now on are just to be to stamp myself in history.

“I’m happy,” he added. “I’m also greedy. I’m going to take a week off, come back and work out, try to get leaner and meaner and get another one next year.”

“We capped it off in the exact way we hoped we would,” said forward Rick Fox. “We never gave up on our chances of putting together a stretch like we did at the end.”

Outside Staples, when several small bonfires broke out, helmeted officers moved quickly to shoo revelers away. As of an hour past the end of the game, there was only one arrest and no major disturbances.

“It feels good to be in a crowd like this,” said Ava McNeil, 27, who came in Laker attire and purple-painted toenails.

Some fans said the city is a year older and wiser. Others credited the presence of the 500 police officers around the arena.

“There are more cops and a lot more awareness,” said Raul Espinoza, 32, of Los Angeles. “People are more mature this year.”

The same might be said for the Lakers, who weathered a simmering feud between O’Neal and Kobe Bryant for much of the season. Not until last month did the teammates find a way to put their differences aside.

The team then steamrollered through the playoffs, sweeping Portland, Sacramento and San Antonio. After stumbling against Philadelphia for an overtime loss in Game 1 at Staples Center, the Lakers cemented a position atop the NBA with Friday’s victory.

The 76ers held the lead in the early minutes with guard Allen Iverson, the league’s leading scorer and regular-season most valuable player, on his way to scoring 37 points. But Iverson drew his third foul in the first quarter and had to take the bench.

The Lakers fought back for a 52-48 lead at halftime, then broke the game open with a 16-6 run in the third quarter.

O’Neal, who had 13 rebounds, got support from a balanced Laker attack led by Bryant, with 26 points and 12 rebounds, Fox, who had 20 points, and guard Derek Fisher, who scored 18 points on the strength of six-of-eight shooting from behind the three-point line.

In going 15-1, the Lakers became the second champion in NBA history to defeat four 50-win teams in the playoffs. The championship is the 13th in franchise history, including five titles the Lakers won playing in Minneapolis from 1949 to 1954.

As fans celebrated throughout the Southland--cheering from CityWalk in the San Fernando Valley to South Bay sports bars--downtown business owners breathed a sigh of relief.

After watching rioters vandalize cars at his Mercedes dealership last April, John Antoun stayed open half an hour past game’s end “to keep an eye on things.”

“I’m really happy to see the response of the police,” he said.

While fan rioting is more commonly associated with foreign soccer matches, the United States has a history of such unrest dating to 1984 when Detroit fans turned violent after the Tigers won the World Series.

Since then, cities from New York to Dallas have suffered similar incidents.

A week ago, after the Colorado Avalanche defeated the New Jersey Devils for hockey’s Stanley Cup, Denver police sprayed tear gas on a crowd of revelers who set bonfires, lit firecrackers and confronted passing motorists.

A year ago, trouble began brewing as the Lakers tipped off against the Indianapolis Pacers at Staples Center. With 3,000 ticketless fans gathered outside, arena officials broke with policy and showed the game on a giant video screen over the arena’s main entrance.

By the third quarter, the crowd had swelled to an estimated 10,000 and there were reports of widespread drinking.

Soon after the Lakers won the title--their first in 12 years--the crowd set bonfires. Officers on horseback and on foot stood by as revelers pounded on a passing limousine, burned two patrol cars and smashed a television news van.

Hundreds of rioters, many wearing Laker jerseys, ran through the streets tearing branches from trees, tossing garbage cans and smashing windows.

The melee lasted an hour and a half, causing an estimated $500,000 to $750,000 damage. Police were criticized for making only 11 arrests.

The groundwork for this year’s response was laid last summer when the Los Angeles Police Department reviewed its procedures and dealt more adroitly with protesters during the Democratic National Convention.

On Friday, though the final game was played in Philadelphia, 18,169 fans ventured downtown to watch on screens inside Staples Center. The appeal was so great that arena officials could charge as much as $10--with profits going to charity--and scalpers got a reported $40 a ticket outside.

This time, Staples Center officials decided not to show the game outside. Instead, the video screen flickered with public service announcements and promos for an upcoming Dixie Chicks concert.

One television reporter showed up with two off-duty police officers as bodyguards.

Meanwhile, scores of policemen circled the arena, some on foot, others on horseback and mountain bikes.

In the game’s final minutes, three dozen patrol cars stationed themselves outside the arena on 11th Street with lights flashing. Helmeted officers swept several hundred revelers--people who had been outside all game--away from the exits.

Inside the arena, video screens showed a commercial in which Laker Coach Phil Jackson and several players exhorted fans to celebrate peacefully.

For the most part, fans moved quickly away from the arena. When revelers set small fires in the street, they were warned away. Some fans then threw road barricades at officers.

Not everyone appreciated the police response. Some complained of being hit by nightsticks as they moved toward the parking lot. An 18-year-old pregnant woman, Alex Vasquez, said she was hit in the stomach by a mounted officer’s horse.

“They’re disrupting our celebration,” said Lyle Shumway, 21. “This is our city, and we won the championship. We should be able to celebrate in peace.”

City officials announced that a victory parade will begin at 11 a.m. Monday in front of the Department of Water and Power building. The players will take double-decker buses through Civic Center and arrive for a pep rally at Staples Center at approximately 12:30 p.m.

“Last year we had around 500,000 people lining the streets and we expect the same this year,” said Peter Hidalgo, press secretary for Mayor Richard Riordan.

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White reported from Philadelphia. Times staff writers Sam Farmer and Kurt Streeter also contributed to this story.