Lakers win, but Big Easy cheers

Lakers win, but Big Easy cheers
By Ross Siler Staff Writer

Los Angeles Lakers Smush Parker (1) goes for a dunk in front of New Orleans Hornets’ Chris Paul during an NBA basketball game in New Orleans. This is the Hornets first game back in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. They have been playing their home games in Oklahoma City, but are playing three games in New Orleans.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
• 03/08: Lakers vs. Hornets

NEW ORLEANS - For one night, the people of this hurricane-battered city could forget about the trash that hasn’t been picked up, the power that hasn’t been turned on and the friends and family members still scattered across the country.

There was a game to be played Wednesday at New Orleans Arena - the city’s first since Hurricane Katrina - as the Hornets returned home to play the Lakers, with an announced sellout crowd on the edge of its seat with each possession down the stretch.

In the end, the Lakers spoiled the homecoming with a 113-107 victory as Kobe Bryant hit three sensational jumpers, each more improbable than the one before it, in the last 21/2 minutes and guard Smush Parker came up with a big steal with 46.9 seconds left.

But it was a night bigger than basketball as the fans who stayed to the end stood and cheered at the final buzzer of a loss. The pregame invocation (a Hornets tradition) mentioned the “long Katrina winter” and looking forward to a “spring of hope.”

“It’s a testament to the character of this city,” Bryant said, “and to the people that reside here, about their resiliency, their ability to bounce back, and to move on from a very difficult … seemingly impossible situation.”

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