Too tired to post last night getting home nearly midnight, so thoughts now in no particular order...
Arco Arena was pathetic. In the early 90s when the Kings won 20-odd games a year, the place was packed and deafeningly loud. Tons of empty seats, every time out some giveaway or gimmick, just fake noise. Loudest cheers BY FAR for an obscure middle reliever from the SF Giants. Several Raiders in attendance were booed.
Never seen Aldridge miss so many point blank shots in my life. The shots were good, they all just kept missing by a hair. Fortunately he came alive in the 4th quarter & OT.
Nic, vous etes magnifique, je vous aime.
Rudy, tambien, muy bien.
Not sure what was up with Wesley, really off. Patty needs to show me a lot more. Some examples of really bad decision making, e.g., shot clock under 5 seconds, he passes to Dante Cunningham 20 feet from the basket, Dante had to take a shot he had no chance of making.
Joel is a rock. I don't think he scored a point but had a major impact on the game. 2/3 of Joel still is good. Poor Dante, he just does not have size to play center in men's basketball above the high school level. Glad Nate put Joel in to start the 2nd half.
I wish I'd gotten a picture of Dalembert's face when he dropped the ball out of bounds on a point blank possession with Kings down by 2 in OT. Ticket $120, parking $10, bad food $12, that expression priceless.
No one would call this a masterpiece but this is not gymnastics or diving. No style points. Just need one more than the other team.
My excitement did not end with the game. I live on a dead end street off a side street and when I turned into the side street found it blocked by what looked like the entire police department. I counted 7 police cars. Anything that takes 7 police cars is not something I want to barge into, and I couldn't anyway since the road was blocked, so just sat there. They were putting a handcuffed man into a car, then brought out a handcuffed woman and put her in another car. An 8th police car pulled behind me so I could not exit or enter. Then one of the cops said on the loudspeaker to clear the road because "a lady" (me) wants to go through. I stuck my head out the window and asked him if it was OK, he said yes. No idea what happened. All quiet this AM.
Just got a GPS and for the first time EVER did not drive around and around trying to find the damn freeway. I have NO sense of direction, night makes it worse, they always direct people out of the arena in the wrong direction, turn me around once and I'm hopelessly lost. GPS worked like a dream. However, I still use 35-mm film so it will be a few days before I see how my pictures turned out.