A look back at the best moments of Staples Center before the venue changes its name on Christmas Day.
As Staples Center changes its name, here are some of the best memories
An era ends Christmas Day, and who knew the corporate name of an arena would seep into our consciousness this much?
Staples, the office supplies chain, signed a 20-year, $100 million deal to attach its name to the new arena in downtown Los Angeles on Dec. 1, 1997. At the time we were sort of dubious. This was, after all, a Massachusetts-based company, and who’s to say the CEO wasn’t actually a Boston Celtics fan planning all sorts of mischief on Lakers game nights?
As it turned out, the naming rights deal paved the way for construction, which began in January of ’98. It helped defray the costs of $58 million in municipal bonds for arena infrastructure, which had been a sticking point for opponents in city government including city Councilman Joel Wachs.
And there has been no mischief over the last 22-plus seasons, unless you count New Englanders such as Ben Affleck and Matt Damon occupying seats adjacent to the Lakers’ bench when Boston is in town. Instead, Staples Center has become a symbol of L.A. sports excellence in the heart of the city, as well as an iconic gathering place along with the L.A. Live development across the street.
We figured the latter was the real motivation for developers Phil Anschutz and Ed Roski to build downtown. If it was, so be it. The arena and the entertainment district next to it have transformed what was once
a dusty, forlorn, blighted area into a hive of activity.
Now the office supply chain steps away, and a cryptocurrency firm will attach its name to the building for $700 million over 20 years, hopefully hard cash and not its equivalent in NFTs or Bitcoin or the like. Clearly, prices have gone up.
The first event under the new name is Saturday, when the Lakers and Brooklyn Nets are scheduled to celebrate Christmas on the hardwood. There certainly will be more indelible memories going forward, with the Lakers, Kings, Sparks and Clippers (for at least a couple more seasons before their move to Inglewood), the Grammys, future NCAA Regionals, big boxing shows, the 2028 Olympics and who knows what else.
They’ll have tough acts to follow. Here are some of the most vivid sports memories of the last 22plus seasons in downtown L.A., in This Space’s order of preference:
• Kobe-to-Shaq, 2000 Western Conference finals: The Lakers’ threepeat under Phil Jackson at the start of this century was in jeopardy before it began. The Portland Trail Blazers had rallied from a 3-1 series deficit and had the home team by the neck in Game 7 at Staples, with a 15-point lead early in the fourth quarter. The Lakers wiped out that deficit in 6½ minutes and took the lead for good with a minute and a half to play, but the exclamation point came when Kobe Bryant tossed a lob, and Shaquille O’Neal slammed it home and then ran back upcourt with a “Can you
believe what we just did?” look on his face. Not only did it help eventually propel the Lakers to the title, it definitively broke the seal on this arena.
• Alec Martinez’s jazz hands: The Kings — whose owners built the arena in the first place, remember – ended two decades of futility in
2012, roaring from the
No. 8 seed to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup. But the single individual moment that capped the team’s brief spell among the NHL’s elite came two years later, in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against the New York Rangers. Defenseman Alec Martinez pounced on a rebound off a 3-on-2 rush and snapped it past Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist at 5:17 of the second overtime to give the Kings their second Cup.
And when Martinez threw his gloves off and the celebration began ... well, just mention “jazz hands” to a Kings fan and he or she will know what you’re talking about.
• Big Shot Bob: Robert Horry made plenty of clutch baskets on his way to seven championship rings with the Houston Rockets, Lakers and San Antonio Spurs. But this one came out of nowhere, at the end of Game 4 of the 2002 Western Conference finals with Sacramento poised to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Trailing by two in the waning seconds, Bryant drove and missed. O’Neal rebounded and missed. Sacramento center Vlade Divac slapped the ball away from the basket – but it went right to Horry, whose 25-foot buzzer-beater from the top of the arc gave L.A. a 100-99 victory and tied a series the Lakers would eventually win in seven.
• Dunk you very much: The WNBA game isn’t
about dunking, but the first jam in the league’s history rocked Staples Center on July 30, 2003, when Sparks star Lisa Leslie got the ball on a fast break and made history. Leslie won three league MVP awards in her illustrious career and two Finals MVP awards in L.A.’s back-to-back triumphs in 2001 and 2002, but the dunk was what caused the casual fan to take notice. And nearly five years later, the Sparks’ Candace Parker threw down the second WNBA dunk at Staples.
• Sportsageddon: One of the arena’s initial bragging points was the ability for a quick turnaround from basketball to hockey or vice versa, and with three main tenants during the winter months doubleheaders became routine. The ultimate test of the arena’s versatility? The period of May 17-20, 2012, when the arena hosted six playoff games in around 80 hours: Kings-Arizona on Thursday night, LakersOklahoma City on Friday night, Clippers-San Antonio and Lakers-OKC on Saturday, Kings-Arizona and Clippers-San Antonio on Sunday (and, additionally, the conclusion of the Amgen Tour of California bicycle race outside the arena that afternoon). The home teams were 2-4 for the weekend, but 112,883 fans went through the turnstiles and building general manager Lee Zeidman might have received some MVP votes.
• Dunk You Very Much, Part II: Blake Griffin was already a star, and the Clippers a team finally on the rise, when Staples Center hosted the 2011 NBA All-Star Game and the annual dunk contest. What to do? How to make a mark? Griffin took care of two tasks with one flying leap, vaulting over
a car – the brand he endorsed, naturally – to throw down the deciding dunk and win the contest. (Then again, as if to remind the world who still ran the town, Bryant won the game’s MVP honors the next night.)
• Moment of triumph: Speaking of Kobe, the image is still iconic: Bryant standing on the scorer’s table, the game ball in hand and confetti floating around him, after the Lakers’ Game 7 victory over the Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals. He was, of course, the Finals MVP.
• Sugar Shane: Pomona’s Shane Mosley had all kinds of honors to go with his multiple championships in three weight classes during more than two decades in the ring. But two of his most memorable fights came at Staples: A 12-round decision over Oscar De La Hoya in June, 2000, in the arena’s first megafight, and a ninth-round TKO of Antonio Margarito for the WBA welterweight title in 2009.
• Taking one for the team: Rob Scuderi will be part of Kings’ lore forever. In Game 6 of the 2012 Stanley Cup Final with New Jersey, he was flattened from behind by the Devils’ Steve Bernier midway through the first period, drawing a five-minute major penalty. The Kings scored three times on that power play and went on to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup, 6-1.
• Mic Drop: One last Kobe moment, on his final night as an active NBA player in April, 2016. He scored 60 points, and no one begrudged a single shot he took. And he ended his postgame address to the crowd fittingly: “Mamba out.”