Will Staples Center bite Thunder?

A snake pit, the Staples Center isn’t.

Still, playing the Lakers on their home court will present a different challenge for the Thunder. When Oklahoma City’s playoff series against Los Angeles opens Sunday, this youthful bunch will discover a level of distraction that is unlike anything else in sports.

Lakers games are where Hollywood types come to see and be seen, so the Thunder has seen the circus during its previous trips. The movie stars. The music moguls. The famous faces.

But what they’ve seen during the regular season is nothing compared to what the Staples Center is like during the playoffs.

“When they go to L.A., they’re going to see more celebrities than they’ve seen in their previous trips,” Yahoo! Sports NBA writer Marc Spears said.

Maybe the players will be able to block that out, but it’d be difficult to believe that they won’t be wowed a bit by the whole scene. Jack Nicholson sitting just down the row from the visitors’ bench. Justin Timberlake over there. Halle Berry over here.  We’re wowed by celebrity; impossible to believe that it’d be much different for Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Co.

“It’s interesting who’s there and how big of a distraction that can be,” Spears said.

That doesn’t even take into account the distraction that comes with being in Los Angeles. There are trendy restaurants. There are popular clubs. There are places to go and things to do that you won’t find anywhere else.