Sacramento Kings 100 - New York Knicks 103
From the Golden 1 Arena, Sacramento.
Richard Perdik
10 December 2016
This must be the equivalent of watching Arsenal in the Premier league. $120 tickets and $13 beers. And the Kings still lost.
In basketball parlance, it was what is called a "3 point game", which your correspondent took to mean a close game, in which either team could win. Right until the final buzzer.
So pretty exciting all told, even if the finer points of the sport were somewhat wasted on a Brit.
Inside the stadium, it felt more like a scene from Hunger Games. Giant screens abound, to introduce the star players and replay the key points. The crowd are whipped into a frenzy. Pretty soon the players will be fighting Mano a Mano, gladiator style.
Sacramento is an old "cow town". So much so that the fans ring metal cow bells to ramp up the noise levels. Can't see that catching on back home.
As for the game itself, star player DeMarcus Cousins scored 28 of the Kings points tally; they also let a 9 point lead slip in the second quarter, and probably weren't helped by the fact that forward Matt Barnes was left out pending a potential assault charge after a nightclub brawl in the corresponding fixture in New York.
Sounds familiar...?
This must be the equivalent of watching Arsenal in the Premier league. $120 tickets and $13 beers. And the Kings still lost.
In basketball parlance, it was what is called a "3 point game", which your correspondent took to mean a close game, in which either team could win. Right until the final buzzer.
So pretty exciting all told, even if the finer points of the sport were somewhat wasted on a Brit.
However, the new $500m Golden 1 Arena is worth a visit. Located in downtown Sacramento, it has breathed life into an otherwise run down area previously known for homelessness. Amongst the scrum of $100 ticket holders flocking towards the game, you can still pass a few homeless people heading in the opposite direction; but this is normal for California. San Francisco currently has a homeless population of between 8-10,000...
Inside the stadium, it felt more like a scene from Hunger Games. Giant screens abound, to introduce the star players and replay the key points. The crowd are whipped into a frenzy. Pretty soon the players will be fighting Mano a Mano, gladiator style.
Sacramento is an old "cow town". So much so that the fans ring metal cow bells to ramp up the noise levels. Can't see that catching on back home.
As for the game itself, star player DeMarcus Cousins scored 28 of the Kings points tally; they also let a 9 point lead slip in the second quarter, and probably weren't helped by the fact that forward Matt Barnes was left out pending a potential assault charge after a nightclub brawl in the corresponding fixture in New York.
Sounds familiar...?
No comments:
Post a Comment