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4 Home games left in the regular season and it's time for an appreciation thread !






It hosted 2 NBA Finals...an allstar game (the last one for a guy named Magic)...a huge game where Anderson stole the ball from #23...and bunch of other great memories...

Growing up I always called it the Orlando Arena...so that's how it should go out being called !


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/o ... 8223.story

Sentinel Notes:

With only four regular-season games remaining at Amway Arena and the club moving to the new Amway Center next season, the Magic will celebrate great moments in arena history. A weeklong tribute begins with tonight's game against the Memphis Grizzlies, leading up to the last regular-season game at the building on April 14 against the Philadelphia 76ers. The first 3,000 fans through the doors tonight will receive a commemorative poster.

Trivia:

Arena trivia: Can you name the Magic's starting lineup for their inaugural game in 1989? Here it is: F Terry Catledge, F Jerry Reynolds, C Dave Corzine, PG Sam Vincent and SG Reggie Theus.

Arena trivia II: C Dwight Howard might make the last regular-season dunk at the old building, but who recorded the first dunk for the Magic on Nov. 4, 1989? It was F Otis Smith, who is currently the club's general manager. Smith's slam came with 12.4 seconds left in the first quarter against the New Jersey Nets.

Greatest Amway Arena Moments (23 pics thru the years):

http://www.nba.com/magic/photogallery/a ... ies_1.html



Greatest Moment in Amway Arena History:

http://www.nba.com/magic/news/savagecoh ... 32410.html

1) 1995 & 2009 Finals
2) 1992 All-Star Game
3) Tracy's 62 Points
4) Dwight's Dunk
5) Steal on Jordan
6) Skiles' Record Assists




So what was your favorite memory ?

I'll be a loser and say game 3 vs LA last year...b/c it was the first Finals win in franchise history !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb8oFjXejp0

For me, some of my best O-Rena memories are of the few Christmas day games I've attended with my parents over the years. It started with the 1995 Finals rematch game vs. Houston that the Magic won by a hair and recently concluded with the 40-point blowout vs. New Orleans last year and the tough loss to Boston this year. The results of the games almost didn't matter though because there's just something special about waking up on Christmas morning, getting to the arena by noon, and going to the game of the day with all the fans being in good spirits because of the holidays.

magicfan4life05 wrote:4 Home games left in the regular season and it's time for an appreciation thread !






It hosted 2 NBA Finals...an allstar game (the last one for a guy named Magic)...a huge game where Anderson stole the ball from #23...and bunch of other great memories...

Growing up I always called it the Orlando Arena...so that's how it should go out being called !


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/o ... 8223.story

Sentinel Notes:

With only four regular-season games remaining at Amway Arena and the club moving to the new Amway Center next season, the Magic will celebrate great moments in arena history. A weeklong tribute begins with tonight's game against the Memphis Grizzlies, leading up to the last regular-season game at the building on April 14 against the Philadelphia 76ers. The first 3,000 fans through the doors tonight will receive a commemorative poster.

Trivia:

Arena trivia: Can you name the Magic's starting lineup for their inaugural game in 1989? Here it is: F Terry Catledge, F Jerry Reynolds, C Dave Corzine, PG Sam Vincent and SG Reggie Theus.

Arena trivia II: C Dwight Howard might make the last regular-season dunk at the old building, but who recorded the first dunk for the Magic on Nov. 4, 1989? It was F Otis Smith, who is currently the club's general manager. Smith's slam came with 12.4 seconds left in the first quarter against the New Jersey Nets.

Greatest Amway Arena Moments (23 pics thru the years):

http://www.nba.com/magic/photogallery/a ... ies_1.html



Greatest Moment in Amway Arena History:

http://www.nba.com/magic/news/savagecoh ... 32410.html

1) 1995 & 2009 Finals
2) 1992 All-Star Game
3) Tracy's 62 Points
4) Dwight's Dunk
5) Steal on Jordan
6) Skiles' Record Assists




So what was your favorite memory ?

I'll be a loser and say game 3 vs LA last year...b/c it was the first Finals win in franchise history !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb8oFjXejp0

@ this thread. I still call it the O-rena.


Nick's steal on MJ

+1 @ Nem

Amway/TD Waterhouse/whatever will always just be the O-rena to me.

I went to the inaugural game with my Dad and went to about 2 games a year when I was young. I saw Jordon play there a couple times and always remember Stuff with his pesticide gear during Hornets games. It'll always be the O'rena to me. Ive been in Korea for 5 years but flew home to Orlando this past December to see my last game there. Went out with a nice win over the Jazz.

Cigamodnalro wrote:+1 @ Nem

Amway/TD Waterhouse/whatever will always just be the O-rena to me.

+ 2 homeboys

Flash's steal on the Sixers and putting in the lay-up at the buzzer was the greatest ending possible to such a horrible offensive game.

Dont forget how the Magic made LeGirl cry.

AdamTheGreek wrote:Flash's steal on the Sixers and putting in the lay-up at the buzzer was the greatest ending possible to such a horrible offensive game.

That was amazing.

I Was there at the Game when Dwight Stuffed it down for the game winning dunk over Spurs, i flipped out cause i know i saw one of the best plays in NBA History and was there to witness it! but so many memories there, and think i am gonna cry cause i am going to the Last season game! but O-Rena its what i will remember it to be as well fellas

I know a lot of people view the arena as old and crappy and compared to other NBA arenas now a days it is. But man I love that place. I grew up there and have spent more time in that arena than most places in my life lol. I have so many great memories and I'm going to be sad to see it go.

I was there as a little kid to see Anderson steal the ball from Jordan. I was there when T-Mac would go bananas on teams. I was there when Dwight stuffed it down against the Spurs. I was there when Turk hit the 3 at the buzzer in Pierce's eye that one sunday afternoon. I was there when we made Queen James storm off the court and we won the Eastern Conference Championship. I was there when we won our first ever NBA finals game last June.

I was there when history was made.

I would say my fav memory at amway was the game shaq returned for the first time. The arena was lit up and you could feel the energy. Nick anderson hit a wheeling 3 pt shot and the arena felt like an earthquake. It just exploded...I couldn't keep from going crazy! Then nick did the chicken dance down the court mocking shaq...It was friggin awesome!

prorl wrote:

AdamTheGreek wrote:Flash's steal on the Sixers and putting in the lay-up at the buzzer was the greatest ending possible to such a horrible offensive game.

That was amazing.

+1000...I remember hearing it on the radio...then seeing the highlights later. Penny ends up holding off the defender it looked like and armstrong raced down the court to hit it exactly at the buzzer...wow..

The O-rena will always and forever will be the name. Most recent memory is this one



Beating down the CAVS!!

GameOver25 wrote:The O-rena will always and forever will be the name. Most recent memory is this one



Beating down the CAVS!!

Damn ! Mo looks like he just took some elbows from Kenny Florian .

JazzItUp13 wrote:I would say my fav memory at amway was the game shaq returned for the first time. The arena was lit up and you could feel the energy. Nick anderson hit a wheeling 3 pt shot and the arena felt like an earthquake. It just exploded...I couldn't keep from going crazy! Then nick did the chicken dance down the court mocking shaq...It was friggin awesome!

I was going to say I was at that game, but actually I was at the first one that the Lakers played the Magic in Orlando, when Shaq sat out with an injury.

The place was packed, and there were activities set up outside as well. Local news crews were interviewing fans both outside and inside the arena. At one point late in the game, with the Magic up by double-digits and the Lakers having called a timeout, a group of fans down below the Lakers basket unfurled a huge banner that read "FUQ SHAQ".

Memorable plays/games that I saw in person:
T-mac off the backboard dunk against the Raptors
D12 in rookie season
Rashard with the gamewinner against the Cavs in the playoffs around the D12 screen on the baseline
D12 with the monster game against the nuggets following Van Gundy's criticism (Birth of a superstar imo)
Ray Allen fight
LBJ in rookie season
T-Mac punting the ball into the stands, Juwan Howard failing to hold Tmac back, and he catches the ball and punts it back again.
Celtics in the playoffs when Rafer was suspended, AJ starting. Old Man river did not let us down.
Game 5 of the LA series, the arena was dead.
Dwight's MONSTER game against the cavs.

Luckily a lot of the greatness of last season's title run helped push out the bad magic memories of the past (age probably did too). 08-09 provided a lot of great memories, 09-10 will provide even more. Win this one for the building Marcin Gortat built!

JazzItUp13 wrote:

prorl wrote:

AdamTheGreek wrote:Flash's steal on the Sixers and putting in the lay-up at the buzzer was the greatest ending possible to such a horrible offensive game.

That was amazing.

+1000...I remember hearing it on the radio...then seeing the highlights later. Penny ends up holding off the defender it looked like and armstrong raced down the court to hit it exactly at the buzzer...wow..

I had row AA center-court seats to this game, thanks to a neighbor who couldn't make it It was....awesome.

Wednesday May 26, 2010 will indeed go down in history as Amway's LAST STAND !


At least they won the last game there !

Ahh the Orena. I met Biggie while leaving the game. Cool memory for me. The 3d record setting game was also a good one. So many good times, and though we movin on up to da eastside (haha) I won't forget the place where we started this thing.