Home court a true advantage for Warriors
Crazy atmosphere at Oracle has been spurred by team’s impressive winning record
OAKLAND— It’s not much to look at, a run-of-the-mill arena stuck beside a rundown old multi-purpose stadium amid endless drab parking lots and accessible by public transit or a major highway a few miles up from the hub of the port of Oakland.
The Oracle Arena certainly isn’t fancy, it’s not dropped in the middle of some trendy downtown area that attracts the swells of the city. Fans need to work to get there.
And yet, it is known far and wide as one of the most imposing arenas in the NBA, a testament to the theory that people, not location or amenities, make the difference.
“I don’t know if it’s something about acoustics in there but it gets really loud,” Raptors guard Kyle Lowry said before his team made its lone appearance at Oracle on Tuesday night.
“They really thrive on the fans and the energy in there. It seems every time they make a layup or a bucket or anything, the fans go crazy.” And the fans are well rewarded. Going into Tuesday’s game with Toronto, the Golden State Warriors were the dominant home-court team in the NBA.
They won their first six games of this season and were 45-2 in the regular season since the start of 2014-15 (and 54-4 when you include last spring’s run to the NBA championship). They’ve sold out all of those games, with the 19,596 fans knowing they’re likely to see a home victory.
But the thing that sets Oakland crowds apart is that they were loud and supportive long before this incarnation of Warriors joined the NBA’s elite.
“They have a great crowd, a lot like our fans in Toronto, but they have been that way for a long time,” Dwane Casey said. “I know coming down when I was in Seattle, they were a bad team. They weren’t that good at that time, but (the fans) were just as loud.”
The Raptors haven’t won in Oakland since 2004, the longest streak of road futility Toronto has going.
“The energy that they bring is amazing,” DeMar DeRozan said. “We only get a chance to play here once a year, so when you see it on TV and then you’re in it, I don’t think TV does it justice at all, honestly. You have to give their fans all the credit because it’s an amazing atmosphere.”
Home-court advantage in the NBA is an off-cited fact of life. The momentum swings loud and raucous fans can create are significant parts of games, players contend.
“I think our fans are the best fans, but (the Warriors) have a strong fan base and are in the top two or three,” Lowry said. “Portland, OKC . . . Utah used to be good.
“But if you’re winning the way they’re winning, your fan base is going to be strong.”
The Raptors are in a stretch of difficult road games in some of the more hostile environments. They move on from Oakland to Salt Lake City, another loud arena where fans are seemingly right on top of the action.
“Two loud places, unbelievable, two tough places to play,” Casey said. “It’s a great test of our mental fortitude starting out the season.”