Ticket demand for Lakers-Hornets series remain high

The Lakers might not have acted like it in their 109-100 Game 1 loss Sunday to the New Orleans Hornets. But at least the fans got up for it.
It is a shame, of course, that the Lakers' poor effort prompted the sellout crowd that paid on average $185 per ticket to Stubhub.com to leave the game early so they could at least enjoy the rest of a sunny afternoon at the beach. But Lakers fans are willing to come back for more, spending an average of $207 a ticket while courtside seats are averaging $5,000 for Game 2 tonight at Staples Center. That only leads to more questions on why the courtside seat next to Tim Lieweke's was empty, but that's a topic for another day.
The revelation from FanSnap, a ticket metasearch engine, that the Lakers-Hornets series still draws an average of $188 a ticket reveals that you can't dampen the Lakers' popularity with a far-from-intriguing matchup. Only the Knicks-Celtics series has cost more, at about $270 a ticket, but that speaks more to the Knicks' resurgence and Boston's rich history. More exciting series, such as Nuggets-Thunder ($142) and Blazers-Mavericks ($135), still fall short compared to the Lakers.