Los Angeles authorities are already concerned about “celebrations” that get out of hand if the Lakers clinch the NBA championship on Sunday.

“Riot” is the word that some might prefer. And might be more accurate if it turns into more than a few blocked streets and a few broken windows.

Here is a story from cbs2.com on plans the LAPD and County Sheriffs have for dealing with potential trouble. Some video there, too, on the right side of the screen.

Two concepts that strike me here:

1. There was a time when Los Angeles fans didn’t riot. That was what people in Detroit did. Or Philadelphia. Not L.A. But now … since the Rodney King Riots of 1992 … Los Angeles always has seemed like a city waiting for an excuse to shift into mayhem.

2. The Lakers probably could do the city a favor by not winning Sunday night. Seems like more people will be watching on a Sunday that on, say, a Tuesday — which would be when a Game 6 would be played. And a Tuesday game would start later, perhaps keeping some people off the street.

About the occasional riot. There was the huge eruption in 1992, after police were found not guilty of beating Rodney King. That was the car chase that ended with cops going all Medieval on Rodney. An incident famously videotaped by a bystander. (One of the clerks who worked in sports back then participated in those riots. I mentioned that in this blog entry.)

Then, after the Lakers won an NBA title in 2000 (their first in a decade), there was a fairly serious couple of hours of Something Rather Like a Riot around Staples Center, where the Lakers had clinched in a Game 6. I was inside the arena, writing about the game, and I remember officials suggesting reporters not venture outside for the first couple of hours after the game ended.

And now … it almost seems as if it’s time for another round of general mayhem. It’s almost as if each half-generation needs its own excuse to go into the streets and destroy things.  Let’s see, 1992 … 2000 … I’d say we’re due, yeah, in 2009. Lot of teens and young adults who were stuck at home with their parents in 2000 who want to have their turn tearing up stuff.

Luckily for the authorities, I believe the Lakers will lose on Sunday. They have not been great at finishing off the opposition. And the Orlando Magic has been very good at recovering from devastating defeats. It happened in the Boston series, and the Cleveland series, and in Game 3 of this series.

The Lakers won’t be quite as into this as will the Magic, and Orlando wins … and then the city and county officials have at least two more days to figure out how to keep “fans” from “celebrating.”