Thursday night my dad, brother-in-law, and I got to scream our heads off watching the Mavs beat the Heat in Game 5 of the NBA finals. I hadn’t been to a Mavs game since December 2001, when Jenny and I went on our first unofficial date. What a way to get back into live basketball! We took the TRE to the American Airlines Center.
I like how the NBA writes the series name in script. Very classy.
We grabbed a quick bite and found our seats. Dad and Phillip had seats together. I was scheduled to work Thursday night and begged my coworkers to pick up my shift. Finally one friend took pity on me. I didn’t find out I would be able to go until Wednesday night, so my ticket was in a different section.
The empty court before the game. Even after the game started, I was surprised to find several open seats, including three next to me. Phillip also had one next to him, so I joined them after the first quarter.
Every seat received a blue THE TIME IS NOW t-shirt to wear. Before the game, the cameramen focused on people who hadn’t put theirs on yet. The announcer harassed each person until they complied. Peer pressure works on sports fans, too. I loved seeing nearly 20,000 people all wearing the same royal blue shirt. We also got inflatable clappers to make noise.
The game was fantastic. There’s nothing like the energy of a huge crowd during a finals game. It felt very similar to the NHL Western Conference Final game that Jenny and I attended a few years ago. The crowd is loud, rowdy, thrilled to be there, and expecting to see greatness. I’m certainly not a basketball expert, but I can appreciate two great teams playing a great game. The lead changed hands just enough times to keep the game comfortably dramatic. Then as the end approached, and it looked like the Mavs would probably keep the lead, we blew off the roof. It’s weird but strangely cool to have an excuse to high-five the tipsy strangers next to you.
VICTORY! The final home game of the season goes to the Mavs, putting us up 3-2 as we head back to Miami to close it out.