At noon, the Los Angeles Kings tried to advance to the Stanley Cup final when they faced the Phoenix Coyotes in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals. The Kings lost 2-0, but that wasn't even the beginning for sports fans in downtown L.A.
See a parking map around the Staples Center
The Amgen Tour of California, the biggest bike race in the U.S., was set to end just 30 minutes before the Kings and Coyotes hit the ice. The last leg of the eight-day, 750-mile tour ended right in front of Staples Center. Several streets around area were closed. Pedestrian bridges were set up, and there was a free shuttle service from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to Staples Center to offset traffic.
See a list of downtown road closures for Sunday, May 20, 2012
On top of those two events, Game 4 of the Western Conference playoffs series between the Los Angeles Clippers and the San Antonio Spurs was scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The Clippers game would have been moved to Monday if the Kings game had gone past 5 p.m. Luckily for Clippers fans, the game got under way as planned.
It takes 2 hours and 15 minutes to change the floor from hockey to basketball.
Sunday Schedule:
