Staples Centers

How good of a floor general is Chris Paul? He finished Friday night's 105-95 win over the Lakers with 15 assists, tying the assist total for the entire Lakers squad. "I didn't know that until you just told me," Paul said. But he was painfully aware of another stat. "I had a dumb turnover tonight when I tried to throw it in the post to Blake [Griffin] and Pau [Gasol] stole it," he said. "I can't stand it. " Meet Clippers All-Star point guard Chris Paul, the guy who focuses on the one turnover he committed in the victory instead of his excellent passing game.

He has the beard of a hockey player residing in the first round of the playoffs, not one of a man living for months in the mountains. Kings forward Jeff Carter offered a take on the attitude - and, well, altitude - of a now-compelling playoff series between the Kings and the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference quarterfinals. "Yeah, we're halfway there. Halfway up the mountain," Carter said Sunday afternoon at the Kings' practice facility in El Segundo. Game 6 is Monday night at Staples Center with the Sharks holding a three-games-to-two series lead.

I was amazed to see from your March 9 photo of the Staples Center (the fire notwithstanding) that construction on the arena is almost complete. The Lakers will open their next season there later this year. It seems to me that the planning, financing and construction of this facility has come together in an incredibly short time. Perhaps if the members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic will wear short pants, sneakers and will dribble a ball while they play, Disney Hall will be completed with the same speed.

Looks like Maxwell is ready to end his disappearing act. The revered R&B singer is set to kick off the 2014 BET Experience by headlining a show at Staples Center on June 27 alongside songstresses   Jill Scott, Marsha Ambrosius and “American Idol” winner Candice Glover. But the gig is also part of a summer trek that the crooner will launch in June. The 37-date Summer Soulstice tour will take Maxwell across North America on his first major tour since 2010.   PHOTOS: 2013's year of controversial rap lyrics The tour launches Jun. 14 in Milwaukee and wraps Aug. 17 in Albuquerque.

The 2006 Grammy Awards will return to Staples Center in Los Angeles for the third straight year, with the ceremonies scheduled for Feb. 8, the Recording Academy announced Wednesday. It will be the seventh time in eight years the music industry's highest honors will be presented in L.A., the only break having come in 2003, when the event was held in New York. The 2006 show, which will be televised on CBS, is being moved back to Wednesday night after three years as a Sunday event.

Luciano Pavarotti may or may not have retired from the opera stage, but he certainly is still doing his bit for the art form. As a benefit for the Los Angeles Opera, the Italian tenor will perform in concert at Staples Center on March 11. For the one-night-only event, the center will be configured to create a concert hall-type setting, and Pavarotti will be accompanied by the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, conducted by Leone Magiera.

People peering through the glass at Staples Center on Saturday night will get a different view when the Kings play Tampa Bay. Make that a clearer view. The prism will be gone. Complaints about the glass that surrounds the rink were justified, said Lee Zeidman, vice president for building operations, and the glass is being replaced by the Canadian company that made it. "It was distorted," said Zeidman, who blamed the production process, which involved laminating the layers of glass.

Agreement on a long-term lease keeping the Clippers in Staples Center is imminent, the arena's chief executive said Sunday. "We would like the Clippers to stay and ... I think we're going to work this out," Tim Leiweke, president of Anschutz Entertainment Group, told radio station XTRA. "I think we'll have something in the next week, at the very latest. "And it will be a long-term deal." The Clippers were optimistic but declined to comment.

Chris Paul couldn't stop watching the play. Once. Twice. Again. Another time. It bothered him that he didn't make the right call in a late three-on-one, getting his shot blocked by Harrison Barnes instead of passing to J.J. Redick. That didn't even compare with the two free throws he missed with 11 seconds left in the Clippers' 109-105 loss to Golden State in Saturday's playoff opener. Long night for Paul. Long Sunday too. "I looked at it, I think, six different times [Sunday]

Another sign of a team in decline - empty seats. There have been nine non-sellouts at home for the Lakers, a surprising number for a team that enjoyed 270 consecutive packed crowds at Staples Center until earlier this season. The franchise was startled when the sellout streak ended in mid-November against New Orleans. Now that game is considered the tip of the attendance iceberg. Last month was particularly bad for the Lakers, who failed to sell out five of eight home games, including one against the Clippers.

Kobe Bryant was annoyed. Really, really annoyed. The Lakers traded Steve Blake before the February deadline, immediately sending a dissatisfied Bryant to Twitter. He said he was "not cool" with the trade "AT ALL," hitting caps lock for effect and also calling Blake a "psycho competitor. " Blake is still appreciative two months later. He'll play with his new team, Golden State, against the Lakers in his return Friday to Staples Center. "Whenever you have support like that from a teammate, it feels great, especially from one of the greatest," Blake said in a phone interview.

How well will Phil Jackson do in New York? Quite well, I'm sure; after all, he has Jim Buss' cellphone number and a number of castoffs to send west. Lynn McGinnis Glendale :: How to become a millionaire? Just ask Jim Buss. He managed to turn a billion-dollar enterprise into a million-dollar one. Sam Austin Bermuda Dunes :: So the owner of the Knicks believes it is worth $60 million to have Phil Jackson watch the team lose for the next five years? Some might say even that amount isn't enough.

Derek Fisher made what may have been his last appearance on the Lakers' home floor at Staples Center, playing with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday afternoon in a 114-110 loss to the home team. Fisher, in his 18th season, has vowed to retire after the 2013-14 campaign. "He's talked about retiring," said Thunder Coach Scott Brooks on Sunday. "I've heard [our players] are planning on talking to him. Fisher can still play a few more years if he wants to play. " "It's not, 'If I can't,'" said Fisher after the game, acknowledging this was probably his last year.

They can't make enough pingpong balls to cover this mess. Even those cheering for the Lakers to tank games were surely shocked and saddened Thursday night when, on their own floor against their hallway neighbor, they tanked effort. They tanked intensity. They tanked trust. Why on earth would anybody want to actually spend money to watch or sponsor or contribute anything to this once-proud franchise again this season after they openly mocked their legacy and culture in a 142-94 loss to the Clippers?

You can use several methods to assess progress but there are the old reliable signposts along the long-and-winding NHL path. There's the first 20 games of a season, the record at Thanksgiving, and on New Year's. This season, there was the mark at the Olympic break, and now at the looming trade deadline. Wednesday, at noon, is the last opportunity for NHL general managers to close their deals. And so the Kings and Montreal played their final game before the window snaps shut and the Kings beat the Canadiens, 2-1, Monday night at Staples Center on goals by defenseman Jake Muzzin and forward Jeff Carter, who had the game winner, on a power play in the second period.

The Clippers didn't overlook the Suns during their first meeting last December at Staples Center, but Los Angeles was surprised at just how good Phoenix was. The Clippers, who play the Suns on Tuesday night in Phoenix, recalled what happened during that 19-point loss to the Suns. "They killed us," Blake Griffin said after practice Monday. "They dominated almost every aspect. They got all the '50-50' balls. Offensive rebounds. Ran on us. Hit threes. Everything. " The Suns scored 107 points on the Clippers in that game and they shot 12 for 31 (38.7%)