Chances are you'd get laughed at if you said Staples Center was the Clippers' house anytime during the 00s, the 90s...or a lot of eras in the history of basketball. But it's hard to argue otherwise with this comparatively weaker Lakers squad. Lob City Chris Paul and co. run things and Doc Rivers wants Staples Center to at least look like it.
Rivers had all the Lakers banners and retired jerseys covered up before the Clippers' preseason game against the Blazers on Friday. He didn't do this just to anger his longtime rivals though. "Listen, I think this is our arena when we play," Rivers said. "So I just thought it would be good that we show our guys. No disrespect to them. But when we play, it's the Clippers' arena as far as I know."
Sounds like a fair reason. The Lakers are one of the greatest franchises in the history of American sports. But it's still "Staples Center" and even though the Clippers were the butt end of the one-sided rivalry for a while, it's their court for 48 minutes.
RELATED: The 50 Greatest Moments in L.A. Lakers History
[via Eye on Basketball]
