Staples Center

When Pink Floyd first took its concept album "The Wall" to the concert stage more than three decades ago, even lead singer and chief songwriter Roger Waters couldn't imagine a day when rock music might get any bigger. But 32 years later, his magnum opus about the battle between individual freedoms and authoritarian oppression has magnified beyond Waters' own expectations of yore. Now the man who once excoriated the voluminous expansion of the rock concert experience has helped institutionalize it. "I famously hated playing to large numbers of people and playing in stadiums," Waters, 68, said from a tour stop in Austin, Texas, earlier this month.

GLENDALE, Ariz. - There was the celebratory group hug taking place by the glass, followed by a loud chorus of boos and then objects being tossed on the ice by some fans. Yes, the Kings' long strange journey to the Stanley Cup finals - returning there again for the first time in 19 years - ended with one long thrilling night of hockey and in somewhat surreal fashion. Weren't they supposed to be showered with champagne, not debris? The final step of the journey back to the finals came courtesy of the man who received more criticism since he arrived in Los Angeles a little more than a year ago than any other Kings player in recent memory.

Staples Center is home to four professional sports franchises, the Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Sparks. Each team has a different set-up on the arena floor. It is up to the crew overseen by the Staples Center operations department to reconfigure the floor for each game. Several times a year they must make the changeover twice or more over one weekend in between games. Last Saturday afternoon, while fans were still heading for the exits after the Clippers' 103-100 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, 65 workers began transforming the arena for the Kings' game against the Calgary Flames that night.

The Clippers were eliminated from the playoffs Sunday evening following a 102-99 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal series. Even though they were swept out of the postseason, many consider the team's season a success, regularly selling out Staples Center , reenergizing their fanbase and making the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Here's a glimpse of what Coach Vinny Del Negro and the players had to say in their post-game interviews.

Nearly every time Andrew Bynum muscled his way inside, two barricades stopped his imposing presence. One roadblock came in the form of Thunder center Kendrick Perkins, whose physical approach to defense suddenly prevented Bynum from bullying his way to the basket. The other barrier simply reflected Bynum missing routine hooks, post-up shots or "bunnies," as he likes to call them. The Lakers' 99-96 victory Friday over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal playoff series featured Bynum shooting only two of 13 from the field, leading him to say, "My touch today was a little off around the rim. " Yet, Lakers Coach Mike Brown gushed afterward that Bynum "was an absolute monster.

Imagine tens of thousands of cycling fans gathered in front of Staples Center on Sunday morning for the final leg of the country's largest stage cycling race, the Amgen Tour of California. Now mix in 20,000 hockey fans, nearly all of them giddy in the anticipation of watching their underdog Kings clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup finals, and another 20,000 basketball fans, with the Clippers trying to reach the Western Conference finals for the first time. Those sports worlds will collide on the streets outside the arena Sunday; the Kings are scheduled to take on the Phoenix Coyotes in Game 4 of the NHL Western Conference finals at noon — about the same time some of the world's best cyclists will be barreling toward the finish line.

OKLAHOMA CITY — It was Mount Rushmore crumbling, piece by piece. It was the Grand Canyon shrinking, inch by inch. It was the greatest closer in basketball history closing a playoff game — and perhaps a season — down upon his own fingers with such force that an entire city still wails in shock and pain. Leading the Oklahoma City Thunder by seven points with two minutes remaining in Game 2 of their second-round series Wednesday, the Lakers put the ball in the hands of the great and trusted Kobe Bryant.

Guard Derek Fisher, grand old man of the Oklahoma City Thunder, is the emotional rock of an otherwise young team. "He's the best I've played with or seen in terms of being able to address a team, talk to a team, communicate with guys in a way that's really effective," forward Nick Collison said of Fisher, 37. "It's like having another coach, but he still has the respect of the players. It doesn't feel like he's preaching at you, he just makes a lot of sense. " In that way, the Lakers can only hope that passing the rock doesn't come back to haunt them.

Ever wonder how Staples Center switches from a Lakers basketball court to a Kings hockey rink? If so, wonder no more. You can see it all happen in the above time-lapse video shot by Jason Neubert. Some facts: It takes two to three hours for the conversion to take place. Ever wonder why it's always so cold in Staples Center during Lakers games? As you can see from the video, the basketball court is removed one panel at a time, exposing the ice, which is already in place beneath the court.

Placing surreal moment atop surreal moment - on Sunday at Staples, they were piling up like pancakes - the sun starts to vanish about 5:30 p.m. at L.A. Live. What they call an annular solar eclipse has begun, a cockeyed celestial event that looks as if it were penciled out by Picasso. First thought: They've assigned me to cover the Apocalypse. Second thought: Wow, the 110 is really gonna be a mess. Sunday was just another Sunday here in the City of Playoffs, except that you had this cosmic convergence of a major bike race, a hockey playoff game, a basketball playoff game and a playoff eclipse, all within hours of each other at L.A. Live, the softest spot in our city's stuccoed soul.

Placing surreal moment atop surreal moment - on Sunday at Staples, they were piling up like pancakes - the sun starts to vanish about 5:30 p.m. at L.A. Live. What they call an annular solar eclipse has begun, a cockeyed celestial event that looks as if it were penciled out by Picasso. First thought: They've assigned me to cover the Apocalypse. Second thought: Wow, the 110 is really gonna be a mess. Sunday was just another Sunday here in the City of Playoffs, except that you had this cosmic convergence of a major bike race, a hockey playoff game, a basketball playoff game and a playoff eclipse, all within hours of each other at L.A. Live, the softest spot in our city's stuccoed soul.

Guard Derek Fisher, grand old man of the Oklahoma City Thunder, is the emotional rock of an otherwise young team. "He's the best I've played with or seen in terms of being able to address a team, talk to a team, communicate with guys in a way that's really effective," forward Nick Collison said of Fisher, 37. "It's like having another coach, but he still has the respect of the players. It doesn't feel like he's preaching at you, he just makes a lot of sense. " In that way, the Lakers can only hope that passing the rock doesn't come back to haunt them.

If a few glorious slivers of their playoff history are to be repeated, the Lakers' joy ride could just be getting started. Only twice in franchise history has the team rallied from a two-games-to-none deficit to win a postseason series, something the Lakers put themselves in much better position to do again with a 99-96 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3. Game 4 in their Western Conference semifinal series on Saturday night...

Nearly every time Andrew Bynum muscled his way inside, two barricades stopped his imposing presence. One roadblock came in the form of Thunder center Kendrick Perkins, whose physical approach to defense suddenly prevented Bynum from bullying his way to the basket. The other barrier simply reflected Bynum missing routine hooks, post-up shots or "bunnies," as he likes to call them. The Lakers' 99-96 victory Friday over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal playoff series featured Bynum shooting only two of 13 from the field, leading him to say, "My touch today was a little off around the rim. " Yet, Lakers Coach Mike Brown gushed afterward that Bynum "was an absolute monster.

Slow and steady. Nice and easy. Efficient and unspectacular. That's what impressed the Clippers so much about playing against the San Antonio Spurs. "They play the same way whether they are down 20 or up 20," Blake Griffin said. "And they always play hard. " In fact, the Clippers had the Spurs down by 24 points in the second quarter of Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals at Staples Center on Saturday. The Spurs cut it to 10 by halftime and took the lead in the third, never turning back.

New adventures in Lakers playoff losses … They have been blown out. They have frittered away a seven-point lead in the final two minutes. On Saturday night, in one of the cruelest defeats imaginable, the Lakers found themselves immersed in a nearly total fourth-quarter implosion. A 13-point cushion was obliterated during the final eight minutes of a wobbly leggged 103-100 defeat against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Staples Center in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals.

If a few glorious slivers of their playoff history are to be repeated, the Lakers' joy ride could just be getting started. Only twice in franchise history has the team rallied from a two-games-to-none deficit to win a postseason series, something the Lakers put themselves in much better position to do again with a 99-96 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3. Game 4 in their Western Conference semifinal series on Saturday night...

New adventures in Lakers playoff losses … They have been blown out. They have frittered away a seven-point lead in the final two minutes. On Saturday night, in one of the cruelest defeats imaginable, the Lakers found themselves immersed in a nearly total fourth-quarter implosion. A 13-point cushion was obliterated during the final eight minutes of a wobbly leggged 103-100 defeat against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Staples Center in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals.

The Lakers got the ending right this time. Kobe Bryant and Metta World Peace made sure of it Friday night at Staples Center, helping the Lakers hold on for a breathless 99-96 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals. Two days after he had flubbed the final minutes of Game 2, missing two shots and being in the midst of a pair of turnovers, Bryant was nearly flawless late in a game the Lakers had to win. He scored eight of his 36 points in the final 92 seconds, including two free throws that put the Lakers ahead to stay with 33 seconds left.

As a young Lakers fan growing up in Los Angeles, Russell Westbrook had a prime spot for those slow-rolling celebrations down Figueroa. As point guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Westbrook has presided over a parade of Figueroa playoff defeats to his onetime favorite team. "Ever since coming back to play in my rookie year, it's been weird playing here," said Westbrook, a former UCLA standout, whose team entered Friday's game against the Lakers with a 0-3 playoff record against them at Staples Center.