Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm covered Thursday night's Heat-Hornets game at the Sprint Center. Here's his dispatch.
The NBA in Kansas City. Man, that's weird. It's like barbecue in St. Louis. It's just absurd. And coming into Thursday night's game between the Heat and
the Hornets, I expected the city of KC to mostly respond in kind. Sure,
there would be a fair amount of folks who came out for Mario Chalmers,
Julian Wright and Mike Beasley. But in total, a preseason game in Kansas
City on a school night would be nothing but a primary example of why the NBA
could never work in this market, and an illustration of how small a niche
professional basketball occupies.
Maybe not. Hey, my bad.
When you consider the circumstances (preseason, school night, football
season, MLB playoffs), the announced crowd of 17,116 was actually a huge win
for the NBA in this market. And while the play was sloppy in the
Heat's 97-81 win over the Hornets, the crowd stayed appreciative
through the end of the game. It was savvy marketing on the part of the promoters
to bring in two teams with Kansas connections, as Chalmers was
received how you would imagine Achilles was received by the Greeks -- you know,
before that whole arrow thing. Wright's return to Kansas was only
slightly less hyped. Beasley had a fair amount of supporters in the crowd,
though he was largely silent for most of the night.
The biggest buzz last night in the building, though, was the building
itself. Everyone I spoke with from the NBA marveled at the arena and
were stunned it didn't have a tenant. I'd like to mention how
hard it is not to roll your eyes and scream, "I KNOW, RIGHT?! ME
NEITHER!"
Yes, in all caps and everything. The Sprint Center
staff
seemed to be on point as well, and compared with the concerts I've attended
there,
it really felt like the right environment for a game. The arena was
made to
host sporting events, and it really shined last night. Even Hornets
coach Byron Scott
complimented the "fantastic" facility.
CP3, Hornets point guard Chris Paul, told me, "This arena is a great arena. I mean, just
look at this guest locker room. They're definitely doing it right here."
The crowd died at times, but then, the same thing happens with about 80 percent of
NBA regular-season games in NBA cities. One notable thing: The crowd seemed genuinely interested in not only the
big plays, but the game itself. It makes sense that a city in the heart of
basketball country would have high basketball IQs, which makes it all the
stranger that there isn't even an NBA Development League
squad filled with KU, K-State, and Mizzou also-rans.
As for the game, things went about as you'd expect from a preseason match-up.
Both coaches are still trying to get a feel for their squads, and with
Udonis Haslem out for the Heat and Emeka Okafor and Ike Diogu out for the
Hornets, you could feel the incomplete sense of chemistry from both squads.
Throw in a Dwyane Wade coming off a rib injury and Chris Paul pretty worn
down off a back-to-back, and the game wasn't exactly the stuff of legend.
But it was special for the conquering heroes, who clearly loved playing in
front of the "home" crowd. So does Chalmers, who's now seen the whole
country with the Heat, think Kansas City could be an NBA city?
"Definitely Kansas City could definitely be an NBA city. Great city, and
it's a big city at that. And you look at this place, the Sprint center --
it's a great arena."
Good to know the starting point guard of the Miami Heat has Kansas City's
back.
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I was disappointed with the Sprint Center's ability to get people into the arena. I showed up an hour before the game to pick up my will-call tickets (which I wasn't given the option to get any other way) only to miss the first 45 minutes of the game. There were hundreds of people behind me and it was very frustrating. The Sprint Center staff was rude and scolded me for not picking up my tickets earlier in the day. I have a 9-5. I love the NBA and wished that Kansas City had a team but the Sprint Center needs to be able to address these customer service issues if they want the team to be successful.
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