AMERICA The 1st

THURSDAY October 30th New Orleans Hornets @ Phoenix Suns - Home Opener Before we even entered American Airlines Arena we had been chatting to a PR girl who asked where we were sitting. We showed her our tickets and she said 'Yeah those are really really good'. After showing one of the ushers our tickets as we walked through the door he re-affirmed this and basically said 'Yep, just walk down pretty much to the court'. And yeah we walked down and down and down. The seats were awesome. Right on the halfcourt line and only 3 rows back. It was kind of surreal seeing the court for the first time. It didnt exactly feel like I was at an NBA court. The Phoenix logos were all over the floor. But yet it all seemed so normal. Like I've been around courts all my life and this seemed no different. When looking up you could definitely tell. People were sitting so high up in the massive arena. Yet here I was, I'd waited so long and now for it finally to be a reality was like being in heaven. My first glimpse of the court was from the prominade above the baseline. Inside just looked so big, way way bigger than any basketball arena in Australia, yet even from the top there, the court seemed so close and I felt like I could touch it. The colours were so vibrant and the whole court and seats seemed to be like a living, breathing organism. It felt like I was meeting my best friend. All of the seats are a deep purple with seating split into two levels (or maybe three?). The top level is well and truly seperated from the bottom level. You have boxes, the advertising and i think the top level is basically at eye level with the scoreboard. I can't imagine trying to watch the game from up there. I'm not sure i'd be able to see anything. From our awesome seats the seats in the top tier looked so high - like being at the top of the Great Southern Stand at the G, but in a smaller setting. I spoke to one of the floor staff and they said that the players sometimes come out for photos and to sign stuff. I felt like a little kid asking Mummy and Daddy for an ice-cream, but the guy said i could go down. I walked down and there was Boris Diaw. Wow! He's listed at 6'8" but he didnt seem that tall when I was up close. His hair was also more boofier than past seasons. I remember he kept saying 'There ya go" and it soudned really American, sort of Tim Duncan like. He was signing stuff but the Sharpie he was using had run out. I asked Sherry if she would mind going and buying one. So off she went while i hung around hoping she would be back in time. But while she was away another Sharpie was found. I nearly bowled over a small kid but I turned around and Boris was signing my jersey!!! YEAH!!. I said to him 'You can sign anywhere you want Boris", as in - You are the friggin man mayne. You can draw a smily face on my butt cheeks if you so desire. After the deed was done I eased away, one part to allow others to have their turn and the second part because I felt like I had robbed a bank and that he would take my jerfsey off me once he realised he had signed it. I then turned around and saw that someone was getting their photo taken with him. I had to go back. But who would take the picture? Who could be trusted? Doesn't Matter. It just has to be done. I asked some kid to do it. He was probably 18 and when he took it I wasnt sure whether he actually had or not and I was pretty panicky for a while. I guess I just had to have faith. After all of that happened I was pretty much breathless. I was overwhelemd. As Sherry came down the stairs with a purchased Suns Sharpie she knew something special had happened just by looking at me. I couldn't stop smiling and my eyes were wide open. I was giddy. I saw that the photo of Boris and I was a reality and that it looked cool. Straight away I knew that I would have to frame my jersey, tickets and the photo. For the rest of the night I woulkd be anxious about the signature being smeared and I decided quickly that I could no longer where this jersey and that I'd have to buy another one after the game.

We then decided to squeeze in our free feed at the Toyota Club before the game started. On the way in we had to flash our tickets to a lady and it turned out her son was in Sydney at the moment and she was very excited to learn that we were Australian.

The food and drink at the Toyota Club was great. To eat we had what I thought was like a chicken lasagne. Sherry later told me that it was called Chicken Enchalata. I also had some rice and salad as we ate standing over a table with our new Phoenix sun merchandise at our feet. At half time Sherry went back there and got us chocolate chip cookies as well as chocolate brownies.

Phoenix Suns Operations Manager Steve Kerr.

Anyway game time was fast approaching and as teh PA announced the teams onto the floor it was awesome even seeing the Hornets run onto the floor and warm-up. Despite no Tyson Chandler the Hornets had an awesome lineup.

Chris Paul or CP3 is one of the biggest stars on the rise, and he looked so small.

Other big names like former all-star Peja Stojacovic - the former Sacramento King who along with Chris Webber, Brad Miller, and Mike Bibby took the Lakers to the brink in the 2001 Western Conference Finals series. James Posey - the ex-Boston Celtics lock down defender.

and David West - the other All-Star

Then when Phoenix ran onto the floor the crowd got pumped up. The gorillar ran onto the floor waving a big Phoenix flag. Like I've said. Americans love a flag. And this wasnt even the official introductions. This was just to formerly announce the team onto the floor for their warmups.

Another major buzz for me was seeing Kevin Harlem and Doug Collins sitting only just in front of me. These gentleman are famous as in my book. Doug Collins was the coach of the Chicago Bulls when I first started watching basketball. He then went on to also coach the Detroit Pistons in the late 90's with players such as Grant Hill, and Jerry Stackhouse. He also coached Michael Jordan in Washington in 2002-03. Not only is he well renowned for his coaching, but he's much loved by the players too and was a former all-star with the Philidelphia 76ers. You could tell he was really popular. Grant Hill chatted to him for about five minutes before the game and again at half time. COllins also had chats to Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler. All the players said hi to him. To sum up - He is an icon of the game. Kevin Harlem is okay too. He's renowned for his lines 'Right between the eyes!' and 'dagger'. He's the 2nd play-by-play man behind Marv Albert on TNT and his voice is used in 2k basketball game series.

They were close to some of my favourite commentators of all time. Marv Albert and Al Michaels probably the only two who I considered more famous. But then again awhat about Richie Benaud?

At half time they bring the TNT screen around and put it behind them. It looks like a trampoline from the back. I really would have liked to have gotten Doug Collins autograph, but I chickened out from asking him. I thought he was just too big a name to even have time to be bothered signing autographs.

With about 5 minutes to go it was time for the formal team introductions and national anthem. Before all of that Grant Hill grabbed the microphone and spoke to the crowd on behalf of the team. His speech wasn't that convincing and his 'we'll bring home the championship'....well I just didn't buy it. Then two guys sung the national anthem.

Grant Hill and his welcome to the season speech

The anthem singers

Then it was time for the player introductions. First off they introduced the visitors. Chris Paul actually got a fairly warm reception which was nice to see. Then the Suns were introduced. The arena lights went out and the place started going nuts. The big screen then became the focal point with the players dressed as rocket scientists clearing the launch to Planet Orange. Then it was booom! lift off, and the suns players turned into astro boys or Ironman on the screen.

Tonight's Mission: New Orleans.

Why don't we do it on the road

Then former player Cedric Ceballos introduced the Phoenix starting 5

Ceballos in the spotlight announcing the starters

In between the cameras the players are in there

Oh yeah - the players came up on the big screen and announced their names and alumni. Amare Stoudamire was a bit of a tool when he said his name and Florida high school with a dumb smile and then a salute

The 'respect' gangsta hug

Game time!

Geez the Suns started badly, turning the ball over repeatedly. And the Hornets made them pay, failing to miss as they went on a 9-0 run to open the game.

However, Shaq turned things around and begun to dominate inside. As he should against a no-namer like Hilton Armstrong, and it looked like the Suns would hit the lead until new coach, Terry Porter, subbed out the starting five. The bench had way too much court time which allowed the Hornets to re-stretch their gap.

Leandro Barbosa was just not feeling it. All he did was attempt 3's, which would have been fine if he had made any of those shots. He needed to attack the basket to gain some confidence and at least see the ball go through the hoop before he stepped outside. In face the whole Suns needed to attack the rim.

I was barking instructions from my seat. 'Attack the rim!!', 'No 2nd chance baskets!!', 'Take care of the ball!!' As it turned out I was right - not only from looking at the stats but also what worked. After a time out they did what i told them to do which resulted in me standing up 'YEAH!!' and a big fist pump.

The Suns had like a 42-26 points in the paint advantage but also were doing shocking at taking care of the with a turnover count of 24-10. Chris Paul nearly got a triple-double and was able to break down the, supposedly improved, Phoenix defense with ease. He would then draw the help and set them up - in particular David West. Pick and roll defense was going to be a sour point for the Phoenix defense. Firstly Shaquille O'neal has trouble defending it - he just cannot get up around the top of the key. Secondly, Steve Nash is not a great on-ball defender. This will be Terry Porter's toughest job. He's supposed to bring an improved defense to the team, but you can only do so much with the parts you have. Shaq is an inside presence but does not have the agility to guard anything outside from under the rim. The Suns needed to learn to play defense as a team.

James Posey was simply lights out from downtown. I remember how he looked at the crowd after one of his big three pointers in the final period as he trotted back to the defensive end.

Our seats for the game had us right next to guests of Amare Stoudamire. Sherry at one stage had Amare's younger brother sitting next to her. Luckily it wasn't his Mom otherwise Sherry might not have had her handbag before game's end.

Before he was sitting ther another older black guy who looked like someone I knew was sitting there and saying 'C'mawn Steve....Damn!!', whenever Nash made a mistake. And he made a few.

There was a slightly annoying young Laker fan behind us. What the hell was a Lakers fan doing with season tickets to the Suns?? We figured out where we were sitting was mostly a season ticket holder and player guests section as many of the people seemed to know each other.

Perhaps only Ben Wallace was worse at this than Shaq

People didn't stand up enough. I guess the game wasn't really one of the Suns best, but a comeback in the final quarter brought the Suns to within 3 with seven minutes remaining. But just as quickly as the Suns got close the Hornets pulled away.

The cheerleaders did a good 'Happy Halloween' dance to the music of 'Beautiful People' by Marilyn Manson. There was also a good vs evil dunk off featuring the Joker, Superman, Spiderman (black suit). Cedric Ceballos was also out in the crowd with plenty of competitions including trivia, a choice of 1 out of 3 pumpkins. Many of the competitions also used the court surrounding film strip kind of like a roulette wheel.

During the Suns comeback the DE-FENSE chant went up, and it was good to hear the crowd respond. The film around the arena also displayed 'De-fense!' and other things like 'Welcome to Nashville', Bells whehn Raja Bell scored.

When the result became pretty clear it became much like the AFL when supporters have seen enough and want to beat the traffic. But because basketball is not as localised as AFL where half of the G might be filled with Collingwood and half with Essendon, you get a pretty empty arena because in Phoenix, everyone barracks for Phoenix. I kind of felt like it was disrespectful though for the first game of the season on their own home court.

Highlights of the game for me were seeing some big dunks from Amare and seeing Shaq have a good game. Steve was only average. Boris was typical Boris - always reluctant to shoot. I still think he is at his best when he is operating in the low post. Kind of like Magic Johnson. the funny thing is - Boris idolised Magic Johnson and wanted to be a point guard in the same mould as Magic, but he's played centre and is now a backup front-court player. But his pass first play really shines in the post - I've seen him pull of some awesome moves down in the post that really allow him to run the offense like Magic - his hook shots and passing are top notch.

Matt Barnes and Grant Hill did some nice things. The bench players did a good job of fouling which caused the crowd to really let the referees have it. Massive boos at half time and then sarcastic cheers when a foul was finally called on the Hornets were the go. Chris Paul was awesome. David West was okay - we ll actually he was better than that but he didnt seem to control the game like Paul did. Peja and Mo-peet did what they had to from long range and James Posey was awesome - particularly in the final period.

After the game we stopped off and I did buy another jersey. I bought the Suns 3rd jersey - the orange one they were actually wearing tonight. I bought a Stoudamire top. Sherry and I also got our photos taken where you can see the height, wingspan and hand size compared to Shaq, Nash and Amare. I am the same height as Steve Nash. But where are the photos??? After that we walked back to the hotel. It was so pleasant outside. I reckon around 24 degrees. And so our first live NBA game was a wraps. It was awesome despite the result. Bring on the Boston v Milwaukee game in a little over a week.

GAME FINAL

New Orleans 108 def Phoenix 95

See the box score here

See the game report here