Hardwood Paroxysm Presents: The NBA Season’s Most Anticipated Games
I’m looking forward to Knicks v. Cavaliers on Thursday, October 30
By Eric Maroun (@ejmaroun)
It’s a sound that I will never forget for as long as I live. There is silence, and then there is “funeral held at a library” level silence. The latter of which resonated throughout Quicken Loans Arena after Hedo Turkoglu connected on a jump shot with precisely one second left in Game 2 of the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals. For the second game in a row, the Cavs had blown a sizable lead and were position to go down 0-2 in the series. The tension in the arena was palpable as fans from eight to 80 years old looked on in stunned silence. But it wasn’t the silence I remember. No, it was what happened next when one LeBron James caught the inbound pass at the top of the key, rose in the air, and buried a game winning three pointer at the buzzer setting off a cacophony of sound that reverberated not just throughout the arena, but throughout all of Northeast Ohio. For years, I had thought that “you couldn’t even hear yourself think” and “the stadium was shaking” were just clichés used to convey a decibel level that rivaled a jet taking off. I no longer thought that, as I had experienced it in the literal sense.
It’s a sound that I will never forget for as long as I live. 20,562 fans jam packed once again into The Q, 559 days later. This time, however, the tone was decidedly different. Rather than an outpouring of joy and celebration, vitriol and anger consumed the atmosphere. This wasn’t ordinary “sports hate”; it was an entire city putting aside any differences they had in their personal lives for the sole purpose of channeling their venom towards Miami’s small forward who had returned to the city he called home for the first time in an opposing jersey. For two hours and 34 minutes of real time and 48 minutes of game time, bile rained down on the court in a matter in which I had not encountered before nor seen since. The exact score of the game had long since escaped me, but that memory never will.
That brings us to Thursday night when the New York Knicks come to town to take on the Cavaliers. In one magical offseason, the Cavs went from 33 wins and the dregs of the Eastern Conference to title favorites with the acquisitions of Kevin Love and LeBron. Every game of theirs is going to be must see television for the sole fact that there’s a chance history could be made on any given night. Hell, given the state of the Knicks defense and the firepower of Cleveland’s offense, Detroit’s record setting 186 point performance back in 1983 may be in jeopardy. OK, probably not, but the final score isn’t why fans should be looking forward to this game. Sure, the first Love to LeBron outlet pass is going to bring fans to their feet as is the first Kyrie Irving crossover, but pregame is going to be the true can’t miss portion of the night. Because after the lights dim, the new comically humongous scoreboard spits fire from its built-in swords, and the opening montage set to Young Jeezy’s “Put On” echoes throughout the arena, there will be a moment that fans have been waiting to unleash for years. Four years of painful basketball mixed with a fifty year pro sports championship drought with a side of highest expectations in the history of the franchise is a combination that must be seen, and heard, to be believed. In fact, it’s doubtful that the Cavs emcee Ahmad will even get past his first seven words of the introduction before being drowned out in pure euphoria by a delirious fan base. “From St. Vincent-St. Mary High School…” you know the rest.
It’s sure to be a sound that I will never forget for as long as I live.