tlongII
04-16-2010, 04:15 PM
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/part1/100416&sportCat=nba
From Simmons...
I think Portland had the best home crowd this season.
The perfect blend of creepy intensity, genuine devotion and a massive inferiority complex. I never stumbled across a Blazers game in which their fans weren't totally bringing it. Two great examples from Monday's Oklahoma City game: First, OKC had such a severe free throw advantage, and Portland fans were so furious about it that it seemed like we were headed for the first triple ref homicide. (I tweeted that the whole situation reminded me of Chris Rock's old joke, "I haven't seen white people that mad since they canceled 'M.A.S.H.'") Only Portland fans and Utah fans can make a casual observer feel like the officials are in actual danger. That's a good thing. In the old days, every crowd did that.
Second example: Because news broke of Brandon Roy's soul-crushing knee injury that same night, there was particular meaning to Marcus Camby's get-on-my-back performance (30 points, 13 rebounds) ... which the Blazers' fans recognized by passionately chanting, "Mar-cus Cam-bee!" when he finally left the game. Just a great moment. Only Knicks fans (if they had a good team and were presented with a similar situation) would have seized it with the same gusto. Made me remember the days when NBA crowds knew what the hell they were doing. Gotta love Rip City.
(Best NBA crowd rankings for 2009-10: 1. Portland, 2. Utah, 3. Golden State, 4. New York ... then a big drop-off to the next group of cities. Biggest drop-off: Boston, a team that won 50 games but had a better road record than home record. In the defense of Boston fans, they spent the first half of the season waiting for Kevin Garnett to stop limping, then the second half arguing about who should charge the court, pull a Shane Stant on Rasheed Wallace and serve the mandatory prison sentence. They were distracted.)
From Simmons...
I think Portland had the best home crowd this season.
The perfect blend of creepy intensity, genuine devotion and a massive inferiority complex. I never stumbled across a Blazers game in which their fans weren't totally bringing it. Two great examples from Monday's Oklahoma City game: First, OKC had such a severe free throw advantage, and Portland fans were so furious about it that it seemed like we were headed for the first triple ref homicide. (I tweeted that the whole situation reminded me of Chris Rock's old joke, "I haven't seen white people that mad since they canceled 'M.A.S.H.'") Only Portland fans and Utah fans can make a casual observer feel like the officials are in actual danger. That's a good thing. In the old days, every crowd did that.
Second example: Because news broke of Brandon Roy's soul-crushing knee injury that same night, there was particular meaning to Marcus Camby's get-on-my-back performance (30 points, 13 rebounds) ... which the Blazers' fans recognized by passionately chanting, "Mar-cus Cam-bee!" when he finally left the game. Just a great moment. Only Knicks fans (if they had a good team and were presented with a similar situation) would have seized it with the same gusto. Made me remember the days when NBA crowds knew what the hell they were doing. Gotta love Rip City.
(Best NBA crowd rankings for 2009-10: 1. Portland, 2. Utah, 3. Golden State, 4. New York ... then a big drop-off to the next group of cities. Biggest drop-off: Boston, a team that won 50 games but had a better road record than home record. In the defense of Boston fans, they spent the first half of the season waiting for Kevin Garnett to stop limping, then the second half arguing about who should charge the court, pull a Shane Stant on Rasheed Wallace and serve the mandatory prison sentence. They were distracted.)