Game 4 of the Spurs/Clippers Series Could Be Delayed on Sunday

There are a ton of events taking place at Staples Center in Los Angeles this weekend, and as a result, there could be a delay in the start of Game 4 in the Spurs/Clippers series. The OC Register reports: “A combination of six playoff basketball and hockey games will be played over four days, capped by the finish of the Amgen Tour of California bicycle race, which will end at the intersection of Figueroa Street and Chick Hearn Court. An estimated 250,000 people are expected to attend the games and race. ‘I’ve called this the perfect storm, but I’m just hoping this doesn’t become a tsunami effect,’ said Staples Center Senior Vice President and General Manager Lee Zeidman. After a run of postseason success, all three Staples Center tenants – Lakers, Clippers and NHL Kings – will combined for the busiest weekend in the 13-year history of the arena. […] The disaster could strike Sunday, when the Kings are set to start at 12:30 p.m., followed by a 7:30 p.m. tipoff for the Clippers’ Game 4. Should the Kings and Coyotes go into multiple overtimes, according to NBA senior vice president of basketball communications Tim Frank, it would push back the start of the Clippers game, forcing 20,000 fans to wait an hour or longer outside and the NBA stars to sit in their locker rooms for an undetermined length of time. […] ‘There’s nothing we can do at this point except hope for the best,’ Zeidman said. ‘We’ve done 127 conversions in the 13-year history of Staples and 44 have been hockey to basketball.’ Zeidman said scheduling was dictated by the NBA and NHL and their television broadcast partners. ‘Never in my wildest dreams did I think that they would do a doubleheader in the playoffs with a hockey game and a basketball game,’ he said. In addition to laying the Clippers court over the ice and configuring the seats, crews also must clean the suites, stands and restrooms and re-stock the concessions before allowing any fans through the doors.”