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The day I had been waiting for at least forty years, since the first NBA games were broadcast in Italy, has come. Maybe even before, since I heard about it for boxing. For the first time, I will enter Madison Square Garden.
I arrive on foot, before 11 (the game is at 12). The building is covered by a construction site: I wonder where the entrance is, but I follow the flow. Passed under the scaffolding, you see the entrance to the building and the words "Madison Square Garden": the emotion in seeing it is great, comparable only to what I felt in front of the words "Porte des Mosquietiers" at Roland Garros and "Letzigrund Stadion "(in 2014, I have yet to write about it). Just before the entrance there is the first checkpoint: I get ready to show the tickets, instead they want to see vaccination certificatse and personal IDs. After the entrance there is a metal detector control, with a fast lane for those without bags: we have a bag in four, but we prefer to stay together.
After checking, you enter a foyer that reminds me more of a theater than a sports venue. On the right there is the store: they also sell vintage shirts from the 1969-70 champion team. I think I buy Bill Bradley's one, but the price seems a bit excessive ($ 160). There are indications for the stands on both sides and both are for "all sectors": we choose the one that, looking at the map in the atrium, seems the closest to ours (and it will be).
You get to the ticket check, which worried me a bit, having four tickets on a single mobile phone (to transfer them you need the app, which can only be downloaded on American mobile phones). Instead, once you understand, with the help of the assistant, where to scan them, everything goes smoothly. You go up with the escalators, another thing that is still science fiction for us: as I go up I think of how it must have been at the time of Carnera's or La Motta's matches (in any case, it was another building: the current one was built in 1968). We are on the second deck: going towards the entrance, on one side you see a continuous line of restrooms, on the other food stands, including one of "arancini" (I would not like to call them such, given my Palermo ancestry, I would say "arancine" but so it was written).
Entering the arena is another emotion that takes my breath away for a while. It is 11.15 am and there are few people, that will remain few until a few minutes from the start: 20 minutes before there are still at least 20 free seats on my right, so much so that I think they have done as in Italy, overshooting prices (my tickets were almost $ 200 each, and they were among the cheapest ones left!) to find themselves with an empty stadium. Instead, it will later fill up, although there will be several gaps left, especially in the first deck. Towards the end they will announce that they are sold out: apparently the absentees were all season ticket holders.
The official warm-up begins around 11.40, the Knicks enter first, who could already be seen in the locker room, then the Hawks, greeted by boos. I must say that I expected a little more sportsmanship from the New York public: they will even boo a grounded opposing player. At 12 we start with Christmas greetings (in US basketball start time still indicates the beginning of the ceremony, not of the game), then the anthem: the text flows on the sides, so I can learn it too. Almost no one sings it, also because it is difficult to follow the singer, who has a tempo of his own.
Here we go: terrific start of the Knicks, who take a 16-3 lead and miss the first field goal after more than 4'30". Randle is particularly outstanding, but with Gallinari's absence, due to Covid, all the players were unknown to me until a few days ago, when I started studying. Then percentages fall and the Hawks get closer: 5 points behind, which will return to 10 at halftime (61-51). At the end of the first quarter there 'is a game that was officially a quiz in which you earned clues by scoring free throws, but actually it was an excuse to make a marriage proposal. In the second quarter in a timeout, there is a basketball quiz: the last question is “who holds the NBA record for points scored in a Christmas game?” The answer is Bernard King (with 60, in 1984), who shows up on the field. I remember that game well, then basketball was the sport I followed closest (at the time I would have known all the players).
At halftime I stay in my seat to follow the show: there are "Slamming 'Santas". As the name implies, they are players who dunk (with a trampoline) dressed as Santa Claus: fun. Midway through the third quarter, after the Hawks had moved up to 6 points behind (65-59). the Knicks take off, up to a 20 point lead, and the game has no history anymore. At the end of the third quarter I go away to take off a knee pad which was hurting me (the position was not very comfortable) and I miss the first two minutes of 4th quarter, but I could do without them. The only event of the fourth quarter will be the achievement of the "triple double" by Kemba Walker. Despite the huge gap, they will wait for the last 2 minutes to play the last reserves. It ends 101-87.
At the exit there is only a little crowd at the beginning, then you go down (on foot) in an orderly way .. I walk away: this time I don't have the problem of crowds on transportation
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