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The Los Angeles Lakers are your 2019-20 NBA champions, and they’re celebrating like it. Immediately after the final buzzer sounded (and a few seconds before that, if we’re being honest), the Lakers started partying hard. For context, J.R. Smith had his shirt off when the game clock was still running.
Alex Caruso waited until after the game to take his off:
Alex Caruso up at the podium without a shirt. pic.twitter.com/Zn9PxYYmWQ
— Playoff Gary (@garykester) October 12, 2020
They might be partying a little too hard, though. During Smith’s postgame Instagram Live, Quinn Cook was pleading in the comments section for his teammates to turn their bus around and come back for him:
1. They left Quin Cook at the arena
— Ry (@JustRyCole) October 12, 2020
2. Dion Waiters is COMEDY pic.twitter.com/8jxQxTgDhK
I know Cook didn’t play a ton of minutes for the Lakers in the postseason, but this seems a bit excessive.
All jokes aside, the team seems to be enjoying themselves, even though the circumstances in which they’re celebrating their championship in are unique. I guess as long as you have a little champagne and a locker room, it’s all the same.
Kyle Kuzma participated in his first champagne shower on Sunday night, but he didn’t waste all of it on his teammates — he had some too, as he was happy to tell the media during his postgame press conference:
Kuz kept it real @kylekuzma pic.twitter.com/ewfWTd4Knq
— ESPN (@espn) October 12, 2020
Meanwhile, LeBron James went to the podium with a cigar in his mouth, shooting him up the list of greatest podium interviews of all time:
LeBron is not shirtless, but he does have a cigar pic.twitter.com/2SggGYx09T
— Championship Faigen (@hmfaigen) October 12, 2020
That’s just the podium, though. The locker room is where things got the most hectic.
Dion Waiters went on Instagram Live for a bit to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at how players and coaches were celebrating their achievement, and, to put it bluntly, talk his shit — like, directly into the camera:
"Call me double-C. I ain't Double Cheese anymore ... Call me Champ Cheese. They gonna say, 'He didn't play. When I played I was bumpin'."
— Bill Oram (@billoram) October 12, 2020
Dion's IG Live deserves an Oscar
Champ Cheese has a nice ring to it. Alliteration is the Dion Waiters of the English language, as I’ve always said.
Danny Green, who won his third championship on Sunday night, also had something to say to his haters on Instagram:
Danny Green let 'em know pic.twitter.com/8sIsBSCnLg
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 12, 2020
If they gave an award for the Most Wholesome Celebration of the night, though, it would go to either LeBron James or Dwight Howard. After the game, James FaceTimed his mom to thank her for raising him and inspiring confidence in him as a child:
LeBron James FaceTimes his mother Gloria after winning his fourth title: “Everything that you had been through, everything that I had seen, there’s nothing that can stop me. I hope I continue to make you proud, Mom.” pic.twitter.com/4WfiDbwslW
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 12, 2020
If that doesn’t open the floodgates for you, Howard gave an emotional speech on his Instagram Live in which he told people to not give up on their dreams after he won his first-ever NBA championship at the age of 34:
SOUND ON. CONGRATS, @DwightHoward. pic.twitter.com/jmjZLyhpQb
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) October 12, 2020
The party is continuing well into the night:
The Lakers postgame party is underway in the bubble pic.twitter.com/TrfL48mQ0o
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 12, 2020
The celebrations will surely go on throughout the offseason, and they’re off to a great start. If you’re celebrating the Lakers’ championship, we ask that you stay mindful of COVID-19 by wearing and practicing social distancing, and that you drive responsibly.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow this author on Twitter at @RadRivas.