Live observations from the Raps/Knicks game

[djsunyc]

i sat about 5 feet away from kleiza at the end of the raptors bench for the game last night at madison square garden.

trying to gather my thoughts. don't have my camera at work so i'll try to post pics later, including the fresh swag black w/ red + green converse kleiza was wearing...

thoughts are not going to be in correct order but as i remember them, i'll put them down:

- these guys are big boys

- gary forbes hairstyle looks just as pansy in person as it does on tv

- colangelo gets love from everybody - opposing players, tv announcers, execs, they all go up to him and give him a hug

- stefanski + colangelo + tall black asst gm guy who's name i don't know sit about 10 rows behind the raps bench. they are sitting in the middle of a row with knicks fans all around them.

- during pregame shootaround, a guy was in the stands with a jonas raptors #17 t-shirt, colangelo points to the guy, points him out to everyone else and gives him a fist pump from the court.

- when rasual comes out of the game, he goes sits near the end of the bench with carter + kleiza. kleiza is then asking him a million questions about guarding melo and telling him stuff he's seeing out there. as does carter.

- magloire, throughout the entire game is screaming stuff at the players while he's on the bench. he is constantly telling bargs to box out - the exact phrase "BOX HIM OUT AND GET THE BOUND DRE"

- one play where bargs is asking it in the post right in front of the raptors bench. demar has it on the wing. bargs is just saying "demar" about 15 times in a row but demar is reluctant to give it to him. but then demar takes a dribble right and then gives it to bargs on the post. forgot what happened on the play but after he tells demar "give it to me then cut, i'll give it back".

- whenever anyone knick took a 3 close to the raps bench, all the players scream at him trying to throw him off. it was quite funny.

- after bargs juked harrelson and dunked in the 1st, forbes says "DAT WAS NICE"...followed by 30 seconds of alabi faking the same move on the bench including the juke and head fake like he just did it on the court.

- one play calderon brought up the ball, it went to demar on the wing, he then passed it to bargs on the post who swung it around and someone else hit the shot. throughout this entire play, casey is screaming at the team. we hit the shot and made the basket but jose claps in disgust and says "my bad". casey turns to roth + davis and says "they need to run the play and if not, they gotta call a timeout". so even though it was well executed, it wasn't the play casey wanted and got on them for it.

- jose's a nice guy. there's about 5 people behind me with spanish flags. before they intros, they kept screaming for jose. he smiled walked over to the end of the court, waved, said "hi" and "no puedo" (which means i can't) when they were asking for pictures and autographs. this was about 30 seconds before intros.

- also, he does this rubber band stretching and training thing with the new trainer before the game. amare did that all last year before the game for the knicks. maybe the new trainer is really helping jose find his fountain of youth so far?

- without fail, everytime one player gets subbed out, he walks to everyone on the bench, gives them five and then goes back to his seat.

- ed davis has his "speshal" look all game. no emotion, just looking "speshal" lol.

- amir's arms are huge in person.

- james johnson had some sweet looking moves on the court but just couldn't finish. a few "oohs" from the guys on that spin move he made but missed the shot.

- bargs is constantly cursing in italian and is pretty vocal out there. there was a loose ball foul call on magloire and bargs walks to the ref and says "bullsh t" in his thick accent - which was funny.

- during the last timeout before carter got the game winning rebound, casey walks over to a knicks towel guy and starts cursing him out. he says "don't horse around with my guys. i'm coaching this team and trying to win. go play around with the other team but don't talk to my guys and distract them". i'm not sure what spurred that on but he was angry. barbosa had to restrain him a bit.

- again, there is contant talking from the bench to the team. all the coaches and players are constantly telling people what's going on so they can recover on defense.

- i had 3 interactions with the team:

1. i had a white raptors hat on and during a timeout magloire looked right at me and i gave him a thumbs up and he gave me a soccer clap.

2. asked kleiza when he's coming back and said hopefully in a few weeks

3. when we were up big in the 2nd half, i caught colangelo's eye and pointed to my hat and gave a soccer clap - which he reciprocated and then pointed to his watch (saying there's still alot of time left).

that's all i could remember now. it was tough to hear in the 2nd half cause the crowd was into the comeback and music was blaring b/c of it.

[LittleOzzy]

Fantastic stuff, thanks for posting.

[Rhettmatic]

Nice stuff, thanks for posting.

[theSkinny]

PICS or GTFO

Thanks dude... How much did you pay for the tix?

I think this year I am going to shell out for some court sides .. I have always been six rows back, but I want to spend a game in the raps equivalent of the Spike Jones seats.. Or near the raps bench.

Reading your story solidifies I want to be that close to the action for a game.

[stopnpop]

I always figured Bargs would curse in Italian on the court, now I have confirmation.

Does Anthony Carter look just as old in person?

I think we have a new Darrick Murray

[djsunyc]

PICS or GTFO

Thanks dude... How much did you pay for the tix?

my hookup at the garden came through so free of charge...

skinny - i used to have season tix for the knicks years ago and sat in the nosebleeds.

i like sitting midcourt and seeing the action but once in a while it's very cool to be that close to see and hear things you can't unless you're there.

[BAMartian]

Awesome thread man, great read.

How much do tix like that cost at MSG?

[BAMartian]

Nevermind!

[djsunyc]

Awesome thread man, great read.

How much do tix like that cost at MSG?

face price is $280. row 1 section 3.

[TCHOKE]

tank u for posting

[RomaniaLuvTR]

nice to read this..

[sewerfrosh]

$2400 thereabout at ACC, was moved up by sales guys 2 years ago against Knicks front row on court, players tix, 3 seats from D'antoine. no way he paid $280 as close as he says he was.

[whoknows]

great post, much appreciated!

[djsunyc]

$2400 thereabout at ACC, was moved up by sales guys 2 years ago against Knicks front row on court, players tix, 3 seats from D'antoine. no way he paid $280 as close as he says he was.

#1, i didn't pay for the tickets, that's what my friend told me.
#2, it's baseline seats, there was 1 row in front of me, row "AA".
#3, it's tiered pricing based on opponent

[CrookedJ]

- magloire, throughout the entire game is screaming stuff at the players while he's on the bench. he is constantly telling bargs to box out - the exact phrase "BOX HIM OUT AND GET THE BOUND DRE"

We finally hired a big man coach!

[Fairview4Life]

$2400 thereabout at ACC, was moved up by sales guys 2 years ago against Knicks front row on court, players tix, 3 seats from D'antoine. no way he paid $280 as close as he says he was.

It turns out the internet can help. I just checked the end court seating prices for the upcoming Bobcats game (section 3) at MSG - $195.70.

[[SJJ]]

Thanks for posting, but I hate you.

[Coach Smiley]

awesome stuff man, catching a raps game at MSG is definitely on my bucket list

[Thelonious]

So much details, thanks dude!

[Marlo Stanfield]

Excellent stuff. I really enjoyed reading about Bargs cursing especially lol. Entertaining stuff, thanks a lot!