Today's game was an early 3:00 start. I actually didn't sit in my usual season ticket holder's seat for this one. One of my fellow season ticket holders is from Cleveland so I gave up both my tickets to him. Not wanting to miss the game, my friend Vince (shown above, and who is also from Cleveland) got tickets on Groupon to attend this game. I sat in section 105, row V, seat 19.
The next few groups of pictures feature shots that I wouldn't usually be able to see from my vantage point in section 122. First up... section 122! I usually sit under the words 'block party' from this Jason Thompson sign. I looked like my section didn't fill up too much for this game!
I've always wanted to get a shot of the retired jerseys, but my angle from 122 is terrible. From 105 I was able to get a perfect view of them. These are the more modern retired jerseys. To the left of these are older school ones, some that date back to the old Kansas City days. The last jersey retired is no. 6, which stands for 'sixth man', the fans. The Kings wanted to honor and acknowledge the fans by doing this a while back.
It's the goon squad! Sign Lady is right there in the thick of this loyal section of fans. The goon squad is always up and jumping before each and every tip-off. They are positioned right in front of the Kings' bench area so they are really right in the thick of things.
There were two banners that fans got to sign when they found out the Kings were staying in Sacramento. And this is the side that I usually don't get to see. I can't remember which side I signed on. Hopefully one day the banners will be hung on a wall or someplace lower so I can actually see where I signed it!
This is a photo of Grant and Jerry. They do the commentary for the Kings' TV games. Grant also does a popular afternoon sports talk show on the radio in Sacramento. I listen to it whenever I can, it's funny when Grant goes on on some callers. Jerry was a former coach of the Sacramento Kings, and people love his humor and down-to-earthness.
Yay! Those red NBA Fit shirts are gone! I was glad to see the teams come out in their team colors. Here's DeMarcus Cousins chatting it up with one of the Cavs players. Little did they know at this moment that the game would be a complete blowout favoring the Kings!
Halftime featured a fan contest basketball obstacle course. Though the teams didn't wear their fitness shirts, this activity was still connected to that. The SKD helped out by holding up signs and these hula hoops which the contestants had to dribble a basketball through.
The game was so in hand by the fourth quarter that a lot of the bench reserves got a lot of good minutes. It was awesome to see Ray MacCallum get some playing time. He got his first three pointer of his NBA career by hitting a 24-second clock buzzer beater. The Kings won this game by 44 points (124-80)
As the game wound down someone brought out the giant DeMarcus head into the crowd. Like I've said in the past, I'm pretty sure he won't get voted in by the fans of the NBA across the country, but I think DeMarcus has shown all-star ability this season and deserves to be on the team. I wish more people in the country could see what a stellar basketball player he is and has grown to be this season!
My Groupon for this game allowed me to shoot a free-throw on the court after the game. Fans only got one shot at it, but it was still a fun experience. It looks like my shot is straight on and good here, but to be honest... I aired it! Argghh! Better luck next time! The Kings will be out on the road for quite a while. They will not return to Sleep Train until the end of the month. I will definitely miss going to games until then!
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