SEATTLE – As the best-of-seven conference semifinal series between the Seattle SuperSonics and the San Antonio Spurs showed us, a home crowd can propel a team to heights that even it didn’t fully believe it could attain.
With All-Star forward Rashard Lewis and sixth-man Vlade Radmanovich out since Game 1 of the series, the Sonics had little business hanging with the powerful, playoff-experienced Spurs.
Think of it. They’re without their second- and third-leading scorers. They last saw the playoffs seven years ago. Only Ray Allen and Antonio Daniels had any meaningful playoff experience.
They could only tell their teammates what the second season required. The intensity. The passion. The single-mindedness.
But hearing about it and being a part of it are two different things. That’s where the power of the crowd comes in.
How many times in this series have we heard the players say the screaming throng – 17,702 strong – gave them energy they didn’t think they had? It happened in Game 3, a 92-91 Sonic victory. It happened in Game 4, a 101-89 Seattle whitewash.
We also saw it in each game in San Antonio, three convincing Spurs victories in a rocking SBC Center.
Those are the high points. Those instances represent the best a home crowd can be.
Unfortunately, we also saw a home crowd’s ugly side Thursday night at KeyArena.
With eight-plus minutes left in the third quarter, the Spurs’ first-team all-NBA center, Tim Duncan, went up for a lay-up and landed awkwardly on Nick Collison’s foot.
Duncan fell in slow motion, like a majestic tree on the business end of a chain saw. For several moments, he stayed down, clutching his right foot.
Many, not all, in the crowd cheered.
They cheered Duncan’s injury. For all they knew, Duncan had broken his ankle.
When Duncan arose and walked around the court to test the foot, they booed.
For all the good the home fans did for the Sonics in the series and in the first round against Sacramento, they marred it all at that moment.
It was damned shameful. And an embarrassment.
Duncan not only is one of the great talents in the history of this wonderful league, he also is one of the game’s great ambassadors. When have we ever heard Tim Duncan’s name in connection with a DWI or a domestic assault or a drug raid. He lives his life as he plays the game. Such class this man has.
The reaction to Duncan’s injury (thank goodness for the Spurs he stayed in the game) was reminiscent of when Eagles fans stood and applauded when the Cowboys’ Michael Irvin lay on the turf, his career ended with a broken neck.
Real tasteful, kids.
Fan passion is a wonderful thing. Even booing a cheap foul call is understandable, especially in a series as hotly contested as this. Fans help. They really do.
Certainly, they helped the Sonics greatly in the third quarter.
That was when the Sonics’ playoff inexperience surfaced most. Daniels hit an impossible fade-away 3-pointer as the shot-clock buzzer went off to give them a 52-51 lead. For a moment, the momentum change was almost palpable. The team had renewed spring in its step. The sellout crowd went bonkers.
Then, pffffft!
Daniels, believing he was fouled driving for a lay-up, screamed himself into a technical foul. The Sonics turned the ball over on two straight possessions. After the Spurs snuffed the Sonics, Allen narrowly dodged another technical for a tirade.
Meanwhile, the Spurs crashed the boards as they never had before in the series. But a Sonic possession in which Spurs inside guys Duncan and Nazr Mohammed turned away four straight shots induced a technical out of a furious Seattle coach Nate McMillan. Ginobili converted and followed with a 3-pointer.
Suddenly, the Sonics found themselves behind, 61-53 with 6:47 left in the third quarter.
Momentum, Spurs.
But not for long.
The fans wouldn’t allow it, to their credit.
With the peanut gallery roaring the rafters loose, Seattle went on an 11-0 run that pulled the Sonics back into it and more. Going into the fourth quarter, the Sonics had an improbable 73-72 advantage.
The fans didn’t stop the thunder until Allen missed his desperation jumper at the end.
It was magnificent to see. And hear.
They also could be, unfortunately, an embarrassment to the city.
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