Double Headers in the NBA

When the first busload of Utah Jazz players and team personnel arrived at Staples Center for a 6:30 p.m. game against the Los Angeles Lakers, players made their way to the locker room, only to stop and remain in the hallway. The Jazz were not allowed to enter the visitors' locker room because the Detroit Pistons were still there after an overtime defeat by the Los Angeles Clippers on March 18 in a game that had begun at 12:30 p.m.

Part of today's look at the craziness of a schedule including back-to-back-to-back games.

So it went in the 56th National Basketball Association doubleheader at Staples Center, which the two home teams have shared since 1999.

That doubleheader was the fourth in this compressed season, with more scheduled for this Saturday and April 22. The games fit right in with the theme of endurance that crops up every March, when back-to-back (or back-to-back-to-back-to-back) N.C.A.A. tournament games are played in the same arena on the same day.

But that is college basketball, not the pros. Only in Los Angeles do professional teams in the same major sport play doubleheaders in the same arena. The New York Giants and the New York Jets of the National Football League share MetLife Stadium, but they do not do doubleheaders.

There is, in fact, a history of N.B.A. doubleheaders, but except for the Lakers and the Clippers, the practice has become extinct. Outside of Los Angeles, the last N.B.A. doubleheader was March 9, 1972, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. That day, fans at Seattle Center Coliseum saw the Portland Trail Blazers face the Houston Rockets and the Seattle SuperSonics play the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Clippers-Lakers doubleheaders are, naturally, separate affairs, with their own admissions and fan bases and contrasting team histories, with the Clippers almost always the afterthought, although not this season, with Chris Paul having joined Blake Griffin in the starting five.

On Sunday, as the Jazz waited to get into the locker room, a crew of more than 60 people took apart the Clippers' court before piecing together the court for the Lakers. According to Sam Kropp, vice president for facility operations at Staples Center and a die-hard Clippers fan, the two teams have identical floors with the exception of the paint scheme.

"My first year in the league we played three in a row had two days off and played three in a row again," Lionel Hollins said. "We had six in eight days and all of them were on the road. So much more is made out of back-to-backs and you look at the teams in (college) tournaments and there are four days in a row you had to play. What's the difference between that and three in a row in the NBA?"