My Game Report: 4/28 Game 3 Spurs vs Kings

[missmyzte]

My Game Report
by: MistiLynn
http://www.mistilynn.com/game04-28-06.htm

April 28, 2006
Sacramento, CA -- Arco Arena

It was the Spurs game to lose.

And lose it they did.

The only reason I have the heart to write this report is the memory of 2002. In the Western Conference Finals, Robert Horry hit a game winner for the Lakers one game and Mike Bibby hit a game winner for the Kings in the next game. No one remembers Bibby's game winner since Sacramento lost the series.

I have every expectation that Sacramento will lose this series as well.

That being said, I was having a fabulous time in the capital of California. The weather has been a beautiful 85 degrees and sunny, I went shopping at the mall, read a book by the pool, it's been great.

I think that every person, at some point in their life, should see a game in Arco Arena. In all the games I've been to, in all the cities, these fans as a whole were the most passionate about their team.

I still really, really, REALLY hate the Kings.

There were a lot of festivities outside, including an area to make signs, a couple souvenir stands, somewhere that sold beer, I didn't walk around too much for fear of my life. I was wearing my black t-shirt that says Spurs on the front and Horry (plus his #5 - jersey style) on the back. To top it off, I had the infamous pink "got horry?" hat and Spurs championship backpack. The girl directly behind me in line had brought a Ginobili jersey from Argentina, she said a friend of hers from Argentina had sent it to her and she was very excited to see Manu.

The doors finally open at 5:30pm and I walked down to the court, not a single person the entire night checked my ticket to see if I was allowed down there. While the players are warming up, all fans (no matter where you are sitting) are allowed to congregate behind the courtside seats in Sections 101 - 104, basically the side that doesn't have the teams' benches. Fans had signs, took pictures, cheered when they were filmed by ESPN, called out to the players, etc. I didn't see any of the players actually sign autographs for the fans though, and no one was allowed near the tunnel. Not even Manu, from what I saw, signed autographs.

I did manage to catch Tony Parker's attention and said hi to him as well as to Sean Marks. Manu saw me as he was walking towards the tunnel, since I was hanging out right next to it (I told security that it was my seat), he came over, shook my hand and thanked me for coming. Horry saw me as he was coming out of the tunnel and said hi but didn't stop.

The big news -- when Rasho Nesterovic was walking to tunnel I got him to stop long enough to deliver a message from Angel_Luv, I said "I'm supposed to tell you that the Houston Slovenia flag girl says hi." Rasho smiled and said thanks, he definitely remembered you! I, of course, had to call her after that and left a voicemail with details of the exchange. We spent the rest of the game sending text messages back and forth. Since there were no other Spurs fans around, it was nice getting her text messages saying "I believe!".

I didn't see Tim Duncan or Beno Udrih warm up at all, Sean Marks warmed up longer than anyone else though he didn't play. I saw him working with Michael Finley for a long time, he was playing D. The last three out there were Brent Barry, Marks and Horry.

Anyone who has seen a game knows that Brent Barry makes a mad dash to the locker room, he always runs. I managed to call out as he was passing by, "That was a great shot, Barry", referring to Game 2, he kinda looked back and pumped his fist in acknowledgement. The Kings fans around glared at me.

Horry just walked by, not stopping at all. I chalked it up to him just concentrating for the game (don't worry, I did talk to him later).

I got some friendly ribbing from the fans around me but nothing hostile, even when I showed them that I was wearing an Horry shirt. I ended up chatting for quite a while with a cameraman from ESPN named Jeff though he wasn't really amused when I told him about the "BSPN" nickname they've earned.

I finally went to my seat, Section 107, Kings Row 2, Seat 18. Basically, I was sitting courtside and it was SWEET. The couple to my left were very nice, I chatted throughout the game with her. The guy to my right was pretty cool too, but the guy behind him was a Jerk. Yes, with a capital "J", Jerk. He apparently has had that seat for 21 years and was incredibly insulted that they checked his game ticket. During the game, he would yell out, "That's a flagrant foul! Someone could have died!" on the most innocent of touch fouls. He was yelling vulgarities at the refs and getting personal, even the other Kings fans were annoyed with him.

The starting line-ups were announced and all the Spurs players were boo'd. Bruce Bowen ... boo. Tony Parker ... boo. Manu Ginobili ... BOOOOOOOOO. Nazr Mohammed ... boo. Tim Duncan ... boo. Yup, Ginobili got an extra helping from the crowd, they really don't like him.

When the Kings line up was announced, they turned out all the lights and the fans, who had been given glow sticks when they were arriving, waved around their little glow sticks. It actually looked kinda cool, I tried to capture a picture of it.

Their mascot, Slamson, came down the from ceiling on a rope to the Superman theme.

Finally, it's game time.

1st quarter action - A jump ball that the Spurs won, Duncan got poked in the eye and Horry received a resounding chorus of boo's when he checked in towards the end of the quarter. RoHo came out on the floor during a timeout, saw me and gave me a smile. Rasho finished the quarter by hitting a 3 at the buzzer (first Nazr, now Rasho?).
Spurs 20 - Kings 22

2nd quarter action - Bruce Bowen seemed to get pushed out of the bounds but the refs didn't call the foul. It was supposed to be a turnover. San Antonio called for a timeout, and when they got back they had possession. At least that's what it seemed like from where we were, I'm anxious to see the replay to see what happened there. Beno Udrih came in towards the end of the quarter and immediately scored on a TP-like driving layup, very impressive. RoHo had some fun with a block on Bibby.
Spurs 41 - Kings 47

Entertainment - There was a fan shooting in a contest to see how many 3's he could hit in 30 seconds. He made 5 baskets. I say sign him.

3rd quarter action - I was looking over the scorer's sheet which listed the Spurs as having 7 turnovers at the half, it seemed like 30. Still towards the beginning of the quarter, Bonzi Wells went for a steal and knocked the ball out of bounds. He looked up at the ref and pointed towards the Kings side, indicating it should be Kings ball. The ref gave him a patronizing look and just shook his head.
Spurs 64 - Kings 68

4th quarter action - I was yelling, screaming and cheering. I think there were only 4 Spurs fans in the building and, as I mentioned earlier, Kings fans were loud. The Spurs had come back and the 4th quarter just went back and forth. There seemed to be no rhythm to the game, too many turnovers and fouls. Duncan was frustrated, on one play he was fouled on a shot that he had wanted to go in for the And1, but it didn't go so he got two free throws instead. He was so frustrated he punched the basket support beam. Then he sank both free throws.

The last play.
Spurs are up 93-92, 27 seconds left after Artest's turnover. Ginobili has the ball towards middle court, Artest was all over him but he kept it, watching the shot clock wind down. When it got to 6, Duncan ran up to set a screen as Ginobili drove and ...
turned the ball over to Mike Bibby.
Kevin Martin hits the layup as the buzzer sounds.

Game Over. Spurs lose 94-93.

The fans went crazy. The ones that were courtside ran onto the court, no one had left (I can definitely tell I'm not in LA!) so everyone was in there screaming their heads off. And still no one left. The stadium remained full for a good 10 minutes after the game finished.

The fans around me turned on me quickly. Even the girl sitting next to me that I'd been chatting with the whole game turned to me and was yelling at me, then she put her hands around my neck and started choking me, I think jokingly but I pushed her hands off my neck. I don't know what any of them were saying, it was too loud to hear anything, but I was under attack.

Then my cell phone rings, it's my boss. I answered the phone but it was so insanely loud I couldn't hear anything, I had to hang up and sent him this text message, "Yes, I know. Spurs lost and I got attacked by Kings fans."

I couldn't move. I couldn't leave. Somehow I felt that leaving would be acknowledging that we really lost and I wasn't ready to do that. Chip Engelland came out from the tunnel and was standing next to me so I asked him how the team was doing, he said it was a tough loss and they're not very happy right now.

Robert Horry came out a couple minutes later and came over to me. I said to him, "I can't believe I flew up here and had to see that." He gave me a sympathetic look. Then I remembered an e-mail I'd received from a guy named Ronnie Blair who said that he was an assistant coach back when Horry was at Andalusia (high school). I asked Robert if he remembered the guy, he had to think for a second but finally he remembered and said, "Yeah, wow, that was a loooong time ago." He shook my hand, I assured him that Game 4 would be a win, and started to make my way out.

The usher near me asked if I was coming to Game 4, I said no, I have to fly home tomorrow. She said, "Well, this was a great game for you to see." I pointed to the Spurs logo on my sweater and said, "No, it wasn't."

So that's how the story ends.

But we all know it's not truly over.

Spurs in 5.

GO SPURS GO!


WARNING: I had to do these pics from my laptop which doesn't have the greatest color balance, these will look better when I get home tomorrow.


The view from the airplane




Views from my hotel room


Sacramento mall in Arden, as seen from my hotel room


Bowen is ... uh ... warming up


Rasho stretching


Sean Marks joins Bowen in ... uh ... warming up


The fans lined up along courtside to watch the players warm up


Think I'm just taking a picture of a Kings player? Nope, you can see Rasho in the background


The glow sticks during the Kings starting line-up announcement (read the game report)


Getting ready for tip-off


Parker greets the Kings as they get ready for tip-off


Tip-off


Nazr Mohammed

[missmyzte]

Arco Arena


For the guys


The chick was introduced as "The Sign Lady", she had about 10 signs with her. The one on the right says, "you've been Artested".


Spurs during a timeout


Brent Barry looks up from the timeout chat




Horry


Mike Bibby and Nick Van Exel


Manu Ginobili


Had to take a picture of this guy, he was all dressed up. I didn't take a picture of the guy dressed as Fled Flinstone (I'm being serious, there really was a guy dressed up like that).


Nevermind, Fled Flintstone got in the picture (bottom left, in orange)


Timmy D warming up his free throws at half-time


TiMVP


Ginobili

[missmyzte]

Ron Artest liked having 'free throw conferences'. Every time someone was shooting free throws, he'd hang out at center court and have a discussion with whoever else was there. Usually it was Bibby.


TP


Horry and Udrih


Robert gets ready to inbound the ball


This is *during* play


"I believe I can fly..."


The first Spurs lead in the 4th quarter


Finley shooting the technical free throw


Ginobili chats with a ref


This needs to be a "Caption Me"


Duncan


Barry has the ball with Artest on D


Duncan shooting FT's


Tony Parker shooting FT's

[Kori Ellis]

Thanks for the report and pics, Misti.

[rayray2k8]

Wow..
Great stuff Ms Myzte.
I would of stepped in for you and gotten in anybodys face if
they were threating you. (Yea I can pretty much hear the bodyguard song)
no but seriously thats awful that this happened.
Are you gonna stick around for game 4?
I get the feeling that horry will leave his imprint in game 4.

[Kori Ellis]

The fans around me turned on me quickly. Even the girl sitting next to me that I'd been chatting with the whole game turned to me and was yelling at me, then she put her hands around my neck and started choking me, I think jokingly but I pushed her hands off my neck. I don't know what any of them were saying, it was too loud to hear anything, but I was under attack.

What the ?

[missmyzte]

^^^ I wish I was kidding but I'm serious. It was not a fun moment.

[Kori Ellis]

What did she do when you pushed her off?

[missmyzte]

Nothing, just kept yelling. But then again, so was everyone else around me. I just kinda stood there like, "yeah, you're right. I lost. get over it." They eventually lost interest in me.

[4001 STEREO SPUR]

Excellent report. Damn kings fan though.

[greyforest]

these synopses(sic) are awesome, please do them as much as you possibly can 8)

not surprised bout the choking deal, arco looked pretty nuts. will you be there on sunday when they all go home dissapointed?

[whottt]

So basically that Kings fan was a who was only being nice to you because she thought her team might get whupped. Kings fans are used to getting punked and humiliated in their own building, that's why they waited until the game was over to show their true colors. It's very similar to what Hyenas do in the wild...


BTW, they showed that Fred Flintstone and the King guy on TV too. And there was another dressed like Barney(an even bigger WTF) right next to Fred...takes all kinds I guess. I don't suppose you know why they dressed up like that do you?

[efrem1]

Salute to you Missmyzte. Well Done.

[xcoriate]

Nice Misti, love your game reports.

[boutons_]

great report and pics, thanks.

[angel_luv]

The big news -- when Rasho Nesterovic was walking to tunnel I got him to stop long enough to deliver a message from Angel_Luv, I said "I'm supposed to tell you that the Houston Slovenia flag girl says hi." Rasho smiled and said thanks, he definitely remembered you! I, of course, had to call her after that and left a voicemail with details of the exchange. We spent the rest of the game sending text messages back and forth. Since there were no other Spurs fans around, it was nice getting her text messages saying "I believe!".
[/quote]

Whoosh!

It was so fun texting you during the game. I really thoughtthe Spurs were going to pull out the win for you.

The fans around me turned on me quickly. Even the girl sitting next to me that I'd been chatting with the whole game turned to me and was yelling at me, then she put her hands around my neck and started choking me, I think jokingly but I pushed her hands off my neck. I don't know what any of them were saying, it was too loud to hear anything, but I was under attack.

Unebelieveable talk about adding injury to insult!

Glad you are safe.

Chip Engelland came out from the tunnel and was standing next to me so I asked him how the team was doing, he said it was a tough loss and they're not very happy right now.

Sacramento is so dead on Sunday. This series is still ours.
We will, we will rock them. I believe!


Misti- awesome recap and pics as always.


Thanks again!

[SpursWoman]

Awesome, Misti....thanks!

[Ginofan]

Great report Misti, I'm so sorry you had to bare that alone! I was waiting all night for RoHo to hit a 3 right in the fans faces but no such luck. Hopefully next game...they need their heart ripped open again every once in a while

[Old School Chic]

Thank you for always posting your awesome game report & pics

[Old School Chic]

I was observing this pic and noticed how ugly the women in the background are sitting. They are sitting like men

[bigfundamental21]

Awesome report and pics. I wish I could have been there with you. The game was in our hands so many times and it was a heartbreaking loss, but I know our Spurs will come back with a vengeance tomorrow and walk out of Arco with a victory. We just have to take this loss as a reminder that no win will be easy and everyone has to step up. Too bad you won't be going to Game 4 so you can return the favor to those damn Kings fans.

[polandprzem]

Absolutely great misty. One of the best game reports of yours

[Spursy]

The fans around me turned on me quickly. Even the girl sitting next to me that I'd been chatting with the whole game turned to me and was yelling at me, then she put her hands around my neck and started choking me, I think jokingly but I pushed her hands off my neck. I don't know what any of them were saying, it was too loud to hear anything, but I was under attack.

what da ? I got something that can choke.

[Spurs Dynasty]

Missmyzte: Will you marry me before the playoffs are over and take me to the road games?

[polandprzem]

I was observing this pic and noticed how ugly the women in the background are sitting. They are sitting like men

a real worry.

maybe she was especting someything....you never know