Getty Images This already had the makings of one of those low-attendance NBA games with plenty of empty seats filling your television screen — a mid-week game between two struggling team, the 13-28 Phoenix Suns hosted by the 16-26 Sacramento Kings.
But this turns out to be the first Kings home game since the Maloof family confirmed the sale of the franchise to a Seattle syndicate led by Chris Hansen — a group with plans to pack up the team and move them to Seattle next season.
What is that going to mean in the arena Wednesday? Nobody really knows.
Probably not much. At least not for this game. Combine the uncertainty around the franchise with the bad teams and a Wednesday night and you most likely get really low attendance. Like you would have anyway.
Some of those in attendance will no doubt carry signs urging the NBA to keep the Kings in Sacramento. Others will have posters slamming the Maloof family. Lots of those. The fans in the building will pull for the Kings in a game they certainly can and should win.
The energy to keep the Kings in Sacramento is not in the arena. Mayor Kevin Johnson is leading the charge, putting together a group made up of big money billionaires and local investors that will make an offer to both buy the team and get a new arena built in Sacramento.
Johnson is going to take that pitch directly to the Board of Governors, a body of the owners that has to approve both the sale and the franchise relocation. Last time Johnson was before them, when the Maloofs wanted to move the franchise to Anaheim, Johnson won the day convincing the owners to wait and give Sacramento a chance to get an arena deal in place.
And they did. There was a handshake deal made with the city, AEG and Maloofs — a deal the Maloof family backed out of.
This time Johnson will have a harder sale, but to suggest he can’t do it and underestimate the man would be a mistake. There is a reason Hansen and his group are working to present and air of inevitability about the deal being approved.
How does all that translate inside the Sleep Train Arena starting Wednesday night? We will see. Just like what happens with the team.
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As a series moves deeper ratings go up — and Game 6 lived up to that, with a huge jump in viewership for ABC. An estimated 16.8 million people — a 14.7 rating — tuned in to watch Game 6, ESPN announced. The previous high this series had been 11.4 million viewers for a game…
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Popovich explains decision to sit Duncan late in regulation of Game 6
Jun 19, 2013, 2:15 PM EDT
MIAMI — Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was the recipient of some rare criticism following his team’s collapse in the final moments of regulation in Game 6, and it surrounded his decision to bench Tim Duncan during some key defensive possessions. The end result, twice with under 30 seconds to play, was the Heat getting…
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MIAMI — For all intents and purposes, the game was over. Except that it wasn’t. The Heat trailed Game 6 of the Finals by five with under 30 seconds to play, and fans in Miami began streaming for the exits. Arena staffers in yellow shirts lined the baselines and the court across from the team…
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Doc Rivers, Celtics’ GM Ainge meet Wednesday to discuss what’s next
Jun 19, 2013, 12:53 PM EDT
AP
Now that the drama of Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett headed the Clippers trade talk has subsided, it’s time for everyone in Boston to act like adults and end this soap opera. To that end, Rivers and Celtics GM Danny Ainge are expected to sit down face-to-face Wednesday and talk, Ainge told the Boston Herald.…
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Some fans in Miami left early, couldn’t get back in to watch amazing finish
Jun 19, 2013, 12:07 PM EDT
AP
PBT’s own Brett Pollakoff tweeted this out when the Heat were down 5 with: 28 seconds left and the Heat had called a timeout. “Fans in Miami heading for the exits.” Thousands of them. Not anywhere near a majority, but enough to reinforce the stereotype. Plenty (again, far from all) fans in Miami fit the…
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Gregg Popovich is the best coach in basketball right now. One of the best of all time. He has four rings and built a culture in San Antonio that has them in NBA Finals 14 years apart and with consistent 50+ win seasons in between. But he is not perfect. He made a couple decisions…
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That was an epic Game 6. There was great play from both sides, huge shots by Ray Allen and Tony Parker and LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard and… I could go on and on. The players knew it was a great game, too. These are some highlights from the postgame press conferences where they talk…
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AP
With the Heat season on the brink LeBron James needed to change things up… He ditched the headband. Not exactly ditched, but late in the game LeBron’s headband was knocked off — and then he went off. LeBron played a key stretch of the fourth quarter then all of overtime without it. Couper Moorehead of…
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That was as great a fourth quarter, as great an NBA Finals fame as you are likely to see. Miami started the quarter down 10 but LeBron James goes on a tear after getting his headband knocked off. The Heat come all the way back to take the lead, then Tony Parker drains a three…
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LeBron James gets another triple-double, now favorite for Finals MVP
Jun 19, 2013, 4:35 AM EDT
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You’ll have to excuses ESPN for not mentioning LeBron James achieving a triple-double during the Heat’s 103-100 win over the Spurs until Game 6 ended. LeBron grabbed his 10th rebound – capping a 32-point, 11-assist, 10-rebound, three-steal game – on Chris Bosh’s block of Tony Parker’s jumper with 31 seconds left, setting off a whirlwind…
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Reuters
At shootaround on Tuesday before Game 6, Chris Bosh said that hot shooting Spur Danny Green wasn’t going to get clean looks at threes. Then, with the Spurs having one last shot in overtime to tie the game, Bosh made sure his words were good by blocking a Green desperation three to tie the game.…
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‘Devastated’ Manu Ginobili says he has no clue how Spurs will re-energize for Game 7
Jun 19, 2013, 3:29 AM EDT
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MIAMI — After suffering a brutal Game 6 loss that the Spurs had every reason to believe would turn out in their favor, one of the team’s key veterans wasn’t exactly optimistic that they’ll find a way to bounce back emotionally in time for Thursday’s Game 7. Manu Ginobili was the Game 5 hero for…
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Spurs execution fails them when it matters most. Can they get it back for Game 7?
Jun 19, 2013, 2:24 AM EDT
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For three quarters of Game 6, as it has been for much of the NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs execution was just too much for the Heat to handle — the Spurs shot 50 percent, they played smart defense, they moved the ball, Tim Duncan was playing like a man possessed with 30 points…
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Ray Allen giving Heat exactly what they expected this season, including his clutch 3-pointer in Game 6
Jun 19, 2013, 2:06 AM EDT
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Ray Allen faced a potentially awkward moment before he even played his first game with the Miami Heat. Not only were the Heat facing his old team, the Boston Celtics, his new teammates were receiving their 2012 championship rings. Miami had won a hard-fought seven-game series over Allen’s Celtics on its way to the title,…
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Heat force a Finals Game 7 with thrilling overtime win over Spurs
Jun 19, 2013, 1:53 AM EDT
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MIAMI — The Spurs were on the brink of winning a championship. With 28 seconds remaining in the fourth, they held a five-point lead, were on a 10-2 run over the last four minutes, and fans were heading for the exits while arena staffers lined the court to rope off the crowd in preparation for…
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Chris Bosh, the Heat’s center, was the Miami player who took the necessary step of declaring Danny Green was done getting open looks. When push came to shove, Bosh – the Heat’s center (!) – backed up his words, which really should have come from one of the perimeter players who kept leaving Green open.…
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Ray Allen is amazingly, incredibly clutch. This is exactly why the Heat wanted him from Boston. What a huge shot. If the Heat win this series, that will go down as one of the greatest shots in Finals history. Allen and LeBron James will get credit for making 3-pointers to send Game 6 to overtime,…
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Tony Parker makes step-back 3-pointer, steals ball, makes spinning jumper (video)
Jun 18, 2013, 11:43 PM EDT
Tony Parker, who made the defining play of the series, his twisting, shot-clock beating clincher in Game 1, is at it again. He stepped back to create space for a game-tying 3-pointer, got a steal on the other end and then drove into the paint for a short jumper to put San Antonio up by…
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The Spurs entered the fourth quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals with a 10-point lead, but the Heat are fighting back. Two shoes or one, they’re not quitting. I don’t know why the Spurs called timeout after Mike Miller made that 3-pointer without his shoe. I’d want to attack him on the other…
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NBA Finals Game 6: Heat comeback in fourth, win in overtime to force Game 7
Jun 18, 2013, 10:27 PM EDT
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That was a great game. And Game 7 sets up to be something special. For three quarters San Antonio’s execution was too much for Miami and the Spurs entered the fourth up 10 (75-65) and just 12 minutes away from a title. Tim Duncan had been a force, with countermoves spinning Chris Bosh around and…
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Video: Bosh: 'We'll see who hits first'
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Video: PBT Extra: LeBron's legacy at stake, Duncan's safe
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Video: Clippers, Celtics discussions 'can't be wrong'
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Video: Elliot looks ahead to Game 6
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Video: The Hype: How much would you pay to punch someone?
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Video: If Heat lose, 'all hell will break loose'
