It's pretty amazing. Some 70 feet apart in the hallway of Staples Center sit the entrances to the locker rooms for the Lakers and the Clippers. The Lakers' entrance appears first in the hallway, and it can be tight when dozens of media members crowd around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. In the middle of the room is James' locker, which occupies the left stall of the center wall. Next to his is an empty stall. To the right of that is Davis' locker. Once the media enter after a game, one of the two stars will speak while the other either soaks his ankles in an ice bucket or receives postgame treatment, though the preferred rhythm for the duo is for Davis to speak to the media first and James to follow.
Farther down the hall, the Clippers' locker room appears. Their entrance is typically curtained off to prevent looky-loos from sneaking a glimpse as the door opens and shuts before and after games. Once inside the doors, an entrance to Doc Rivers' office is immediately to the left. Down the corridor, past a break room with a sliding door, is the Clippers' semicircle locker room.
It's minutes before tipoff, and the lights are off inside Staples Center. But don't worry: There is plenty to see. Laser beams shine in all directions, and a huge, white curtain, with parts of the pregame hype video shown on it like a massive theater screen, falls to the floor once the video is over.
Then, a familiar baritone voice fills the arena. The home team, your Los Angeles Lakers. Compared to those of pretty much all other teams around the league, Tanter's pregame introductions are understated. They are out of a time capsule from a prior generation. But that's befitting of a franchise known for its history. At Clippers games, everything is The pregame routine is at a noticeably higher decibel than it is at Lakers games.
From the music before and during play to the in-game hype crew talking during timeouts, the Clippers do their best to entertain fans from the moment they take their seats. Clippers games start like Lakers games do: lights down and laser beams flickering across the court and lower bowl. But then the Spirit Clippers Dance Team rolls drums onto the floor and begins beating them to a song while sparklers are set off into the air. When LeBron James chose to come to L.
The Lakers have a long-standing relationship with Robbins, which boasts on the company's website that its hard maple courts are the "industry's most advanced and only biomechanically tested floors.
The NBA requires that each team change its home court every 10 years, but the Lakers make sure there is constant upkeep in the meantime. When the Lakers choose to change their look -- a decision that comes from the very top, through controlling owner and president Jeanie Buss -- they have to notify Robbins well in advance.
The Clippers turn to Horner Sports Flooring for their home court. It's also maple and has a matching high-gloss polyurethane finish coat. But the aesthetic, like much of the rest of the game presentation, is very different.
The Clippers' court has just three colors of paint on it black, red and white , while the Lakers' has four red, white, purple and gold , yet another category in which the Lakers can claim they lead the Clippers. About an hour before the Clippers begin their point demolition of Atlanta, NBA superfan and millionaire Jimmy Goldstein is going through his typical game routine: posting up along the baseline and watching players go through their warm-ups.
Goldstein is in his signature, unique sort of rock-band look: a shiny, black, leather jacket and a flamboyant hat made of what looks like snakeskin. Goldstein is almost as much of a fixture at NBA games here as the Lakers banners that hang high above him. He says he has been a Lakers season-ticket holder for 58 years and a Clippers one for He attends more than games each season, and he travels from city to city during the postseason to go to as many playoff games as he can.
Through all the decades, one thing has remained constant: Friends ask him to take them to Lakers games -- not Clippers games. But the Lakers have that aura about them. Is Paul George playing tonight vs Trail Blazers? LA Clippers team news. Is Paul George playing tonight? Clippers star doubtful for blockbuster clash vs Warriors.
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That factor helped the Kings and Lakers rivalry reach its peak in the early s. This rivalry has both teams calling Los Angeles home, and the same arena their home court. In other sports, there are teams that share or have shared home fields, but never in the same conference and division.
Imagine if the Giants and Jets were in the same conference or division. Those battles would be even more fierce than they already are. The Lakers promotional team is already hyping it that way. Check this video out to promote their first regular-season matchup:. That is for a regular season game; can you imagine what it would be like if the two teams met in the postseason? Of course the Clippers have been in California since , and in Los Angeles since , but it was a silent rivalry at best because the Clippers have been horrible.
The Clippers are this century with one playoff berth, in their lone winning season in 12 years.
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