Yesterday's 99-92 victory by the best-in-the-west L.A. Lakers (52-18) over the fourth-worst-overall Washington Wizards (21-47) took place on the NBA's fourth annual Noche Latina, a night recognizing the fact that 15% of the league's fan base is of Latino heritage, as are 18 of its players.
But the lackluster win by one of the league's best over one of the league's worse is not a good sign for the reigning Champs as playoff season approaches, and as they prepare for their final road-tour of the year. Sure, the Lakers made the second half look like a competition between the Globetrotters and Generals, but the Lakers did lead by 28 points earlier in the half, giving up 21 points in a blink of the eye.
And more importantly, on Noche Latina, there were no free tacos.
As watchers of the Lakers well know, the fourth quarter of winning games brings chants of "We Want Tacos," derived from the Taco Bell Staples Center promotion of giving vouchers for free tacos if the Lakers score over 100 points while holding their opponents to under 100 points. The chant has spread even beyond home games; recently, the chant was heard by infiltrating Lakers fans at L.A.'s 106-99 defeat of the Sacramento Kings at Arco Arena. But last night, Los Lakers walked it out in the waning minutes of the game. With 98 points on the board, they played like they were already half asleep, and missed two of their final three free throws.
A repeat is a rare thing in today's NBA, much rarer than free tacos, so the failure to even win the latter for the fans does not bode well for the former.
Stupid Lakers!
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