I’ll start off saying that this game is somewhat of a bonus as the main reason of the trip was to see my Lakers taking on the Spurs… that being on Sunday, I thought I’d make the trip a couple of days early and enjoy the Spurs putting a whooping on the Heat (or at least that is what I hoped for).
Trip started off well as I made only an hour and a half from Monterrey to Laredo, the border crossing was only 25 minutes which is awesome, but then came the I-94 permit and its brutal 2 hour wait and 15 minute line to pay 6 freaking dollars. I’ll go on the record and say: “a 2.5 hour wait for a permit is BULL-FUCKING-SHIT… the fuck, I’m coming to spend money, to have a good time, NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT.
2 hour trip and I get to San Antonio and straight to the hotel (cheap Red Roof, yet never disappoints, best bang for the buck). Quick trip to the Riverwalk and off to the AT&T Center.
Parked pretty far but not too bad for 8 bucks, at this point it’s about 6:45pm (a bit less than 2 hours from tipoff), hoped they opened the doors 2 hours but nope. More standing around (that has been a trending thing today). So lots of standing around while I listened to a ton of “Lebron sucks” and “overrated” chants which I loved --- I think Lebron is one of the best players but a total asshole, more on that later---. This drums band starts playing and makes the wait a bit better, then comes a Spurs cheering squad and they start throwing t-shirts and I get one (day starts getting better). At 7:30 -1 hour before tipoff- doors open and we are in.
A quick tour around AT&T which is a pretty nice arena with a great atmosphere although the halls are not that big and are really crowded. Made my way up to my seat and picked up some buffalo wings and a coke (damn good combination). Got to my seat and munched my wings down.
The atmosphere was electric with tons of Lebron comments and chants. As soon as he steps on the floor the crowd is all over him. Out come Los Spurs (it was Latino night in the San Antonio, so we had El Heat and Los Spurs jerseys, along with a lot of Latin Music) and we get a huge pop by the sold out crowd. I can’t put into words the energy that was felt around the building. I found it quite funny that the song played right before the Heat introductions was one by Pitbull, it’s funny since he is from Miami (yeah weird me, but also weird they played a song that made the visiting team seem like the home team).
As always Manu Ginobili gets the biggest ovation during introductions, although the return of TP9 was well received. I can’t stress enough that the return of Parker is huge for the Spurs, although he did not look like himself from time to time he is a huge part of the team.
The crowd was hot from the tip off and quick basket from Manu and the Spurs got the crowd hotter –If possible- going 8 for 11 from 3 point land in the 1st quarter. So it we end the first 12 minutes with the Spurs up 36-12. The second quarter was a bit more balanced, mostly due to the Spurs lowering the intensity.
Side note: how is it possible that in the AT&T Center my cellphone has no reception??? I guess all those bad comments about their service is true.
It ‘s not even worth the time to talk about the disaster the Heat are. For their talent level I expected so much more but you can see that they are horrible on defense: they rotation is brutal, lack of effort, poor coaching in general. On the offensive side you have 3 great players in Lebron, D-Wade and Bosh but they have no idea how to play as a team; individual talent will only take you so far but in order to win you must play as a team and have a good coach. I found it interesting that most Heat players talk to the assistants during time outs instead of Coach Spolestra, if they listen at all; most of the time the just wandered around, which I see as a sign of poor coaching, poor integration, lack of interest.
The game ended in a 30 point blowout by the Spurs, they hit 17 3 pointers (which is a team record, a nice thing to be part of live) and they handed the Heat their worst defeat of the season (which also was nice to see).
All in all it was a great day. Made it safely to beautiful San Antonio, had some great wings, some beer, saw on the greatest players ever (although I hate him off the court), got the chance to boo the hell out of him, and got to see the Spurs win big in what –in my opinion- was the hottest crowd I’ve ever been a part of.
Hope to see a Spanish edition of SportsCenter to hear the hosts say ESTA LEBRON or I WADE… a play on their names to make them sound like cursing. Funny if you speak Spanish, although I doubt they will show any good plays by El Heat –or maybe they will show that awesome And-1 play by Lebron with the 360 layup. (pics coming later)
After tonight’s game I can say: “Lebron take your talents, turn them sideways, shine them up real good, and stick them straight up your candy-ass” (Quote The Rock nevermore).
So tomorrow I got an off day -so to speak- so it’s off to shop, eat good food and enjoy San Antonio. Sunday I’m back to AT&T to watch my Lakers, this time showing no love for the home team (which I have a ton of respect as an organization and enjoy watching them) hoping to see another great game and a Lakers W.
MrKhakbaz out!!!
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