Kurtenbach: Sacramento brought cowbells, light beams, and an NBA Finals-like atmosphere to Warriors-Kings Game 1
The battle of Northern California got off to a noisy start in Saturday's Game 1.
SACRAMENTO — Have you ever heard the sound of 17 years of frustration and anticipation being released?
It sounds like thousands of ringing cowbells.
Saturday’s Game 1 between the Warriors and Sacramento Kings was the biggest sporting event in the capital city in a generation, and to be in the vicinity of the Kings’ downtown arena was to be bombarded with that fact — and the sound of those cowbells.
Given the short commute from the Bay, there was speculation that Sacramento’s arena would become the Blue-and-Golden 1 Center.
The absurd cost of tickets listed on the secondary market — Front Office Sports reported that prices were the highest for a non-Finals game in league history — further suggested a Bay wave.
But that was not the reality.
If there was any blue in the crowd, it was just as likely to come from a Kings fan in a 1980s-style throwback jersey.
That said, the atmosphere was NBA Finals-caliber. My Apple Watch wouldn’t stop telling me I needed to exit the arena for my safety — it was too loud. (The watch died from exhaustion in the second quarter.)
Cleveland and Houston, Memphis or San Antonio never came close to creating the noise Kings fans made Saturday. In fact, Golden 1 Center was so loud it was impossible to make out the individual sources.
That’s Boston-level noise.
Well, Boston-level noise before Steph Curry rendered an entire region mute.
We’ll see if that comes to pass in this series.
But in the meantime, a bit more respect to Kings fans: the ruckus started early Saturday.
Kings fans filled the arena half an hour before the opening tip. Who does that?
And who collectively — and awesomely — sings the National Anthem before the game?
Fans that have waited since 2006 for a playoff game, that’s who. (Especially when you paid more than $500 for tickets.)
In fact, the pregame noise in the arena was so loud it became an issue for the ESPN broadcast crew that was trying to do an on-court hit.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr predicted before the game. “This has always been an amazing fan base. It’s always a great vibe, even the last 16 years coming in here, when they haven’t have great teams. There’s a love for basketball. A love for the Kings.”
Yes, Sacramento is a great basketball market — you have to be die-hard if you’re going to support a team that was the NBA’s laughingstock for the last decade-and-a-half. and Saturday, they had a party celebrating themselves.
And good for them.
Following the Warriors for the last nine years, it is easy to develop a cynicism toward the early rounds of the playoffs. The Warriors have been in the postseason so often and have made such easy work of these series since 2014-15, that they’re almost perfunctory — something that has to be done on the path to the inevitable.
But Saturday’s game was anything but perfunctory for the Kings. It was one that will stick with me for years to come, as will the hearing damage from those damn cowbells and “Sac-ra-men-to” chants.
The atmosphere was charming. It was authentic. It was joyous. While it was hardly a one-for-one comparison, it was reminiscent of the early days of the Warriors’ dynasty at Oracle Arena, before success was expected.
It’s these kinds of environments that make the NBA playoffs the epitome of sports entertainment.
The Warriors were happy to play the Kings because of the travel implications — a bus is always better than a plane when it comes to athletic recovery — but they might have underestimated how hostile the arena 75 miles northeast of San Francisco would be.
This will not be a series where homecourt advantage is mitigated by proximity. It will be a factor, which could be an issue for the Warriors, who struggled on the road all season.
The Valley and the Bay might share fandom of the Niners and Giants, but the lines are now clear when it comes to basketball.
“We don’t care about Northern California. We care about the Warriors,” Kerr said. “We want to win for our fans and for us. If that doesn’t happen, we’re not going to be there with pom poms, saying ‘Alright, let’s go, Kings.'”
“There’s none of that geographic pride, that’s for sure.”