Randy Newman should have a pretty fat royalty check coming soon.
The singer, whose iconic “I Love L.A.” has become the go-to celebration song following wins by the city’s sports franchises, continued to add to that tally Sunday when the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Kings advanced to the NHL conference finals for only the second time in franchise history. The Kings, whose 3-1 victory over St. Louis completed an improbable four-game sweep, are one of four local teams captivating Angeleno sports fans with their winning ways.
“I can only imagine how happy Kings fans are right now,” said Kings captain Dustin Brown, who has six goals in nine playoff games this year. “They’ve been through a rough stretch, and to win on home ice, that’s huge for everyone in this room. It’s nice to see the fans get jacked up as much as they could. They haven’t an opportunity to celebrate like that at home.”
For the first time since the Staples Center opened in 1999, all three of its tenants are in the postseason at the same time. The Lakers won 92-88 in Denver on Sunday night to take a 3-1 lead in their first-round NBA playoff series. And the Clippers, who lead Memphis 3-1 in theirs, can advance to the second round of the playoffs for only the second time since the franchise moved to L.A. with a win Wednesday.
The Clippers, one of the NBA’s longest-suffering franchises, used the addition of Chris Paul and the emergence of Blake Griffin to propel themselves into the playoffs for the first time since 2006. After their remarkable 24-point fourth-quarter comeback on the road in Game 1, the Clippers showed equal resilience at home in both Game 3, overcoming horrible free-throw shooting to hold on for an 87-86 win in front of a sellout crowd, and Game 4, pulling out the win in OT behind Paul's heroics.
“I won’t forget my first playoff in this building,” Paul said after Game 3. “The energy in the crowd and seeing fans celebrating motivate us. The crowd won the game for us.”
Yes, the L.A. crowds, famous for showing up late and leaving early to beat the traffic. The crowds with a reputation for watching the people sitting around them more than the ones on the floor, ice or field, are actually paying attention. And it’s not just at the Staples Center.
There’s a new level of excitement up the road at Dodger Stadium, too. New part-owner Magic Johnson moves into his new office Monday, after his group’s completion of the sale from previous owner Frank McCourt. The team leads the National League West with an 19-10 record and has two of the league’s most exciting young players, 2011 NL Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw and NL MVP runner-up Matt Kemp. Team officials said season ticket sales skyrocketed after the sale was announced back in March.
But it’s the Kings who have generated a collective unity among the other squads. During various points of the game Sunday, in which they became the first No. 8 seed in NHL history to eliminate their conference’s top two seeds in the same postseason, Kobe Bryant, the L.A. Galaxy’s Landon Donovan, Kemp and fellow Dodger Andre Ethier all appeared on scoreboard videos pumping up the crowd and urging on the Kings. Bryant, who attended a Kings playoff game last month with his daughters, wore a white Kings jersey.
The Kings get the Coyotes next, with just the second trip to the Stanley Cup finals in franchise history on the line. It will be interesting to see how the NBA and NHL juggle their time at the Staples Center if both the Lakers and Clippers also advance. None of the three L.A. teams will have the home advantage in their next round, creating a maximum of three games at Staples for each team.
Any logistical problems that may arise from such a scenario are great ones to have, according to Lee Zeidman, the senior VP and general manager of Staples Center and its neighboring entertainment complex, LA Live and Nokia Theater.
“This is a windfall for the teams, the building, LA Live and downtown Los Angeles,” Zeidman told the Orange County Register. “It’s very, very exciting. It’s something we could only dream of at the start.”
