12-15-19 At the Game: Lakers at Hawks 6pm EST
We arrived at State Farm Arena at 5pm sharp amidst a sea of purple and gold that had taken over downtown Atlanta. We had planned to arrive earlier, but it would not have mattered, because our Section 121 behind the Lakers bench was completely filled to the brim with kids squealing for an autograph. It was clearly going to be a while before we could even make it down to our Row AA, the first row, so we naturally headed to the bar.
“Titos and soda. Double. And a water, please.”
When we finally made it down to our seat, there was a fervent lull of excitement hovering throughout the stadium, most palpable in our section, of course. We said what’s up to Trey Kerby and Dave McMenamin, both passing by. Dave was kinda startled that somebody from the stands spoke directly to him.
Then Big Lakers Guy announced his arrival.
“Yes sir! LAKERS!! YES SIR!!!”
Behind us and to the left, there was a middle-aged black guy wearing big sunglasses and yelling with a BOOMING voice that everybody could easily hear, because it was the only thing that you could hear. He continued the yelling, “Yes sir!! LAKERS!! YES SIR!!!” for the next 15 minutes, over and over, until the Lakers ran out of the tunnel.
And there they were. The Lakers. Live and in color. Right in front of us.
Who was the first Laker leading the line as they ran out? It was Dwight! He looks so CHISELED in person. No Pineapple Dwight tonight, though.
Seeing LeBron there, literally mere feet away from us, was immensely surreal.
We have watched LeBron play basketball for 17 years, but never this close. LeBron was never this real.
“RAM IT RIGHT DOWN THEIR THROATS!!!”
It was officially warmups, and Big Lakers Guy was trying to set the tone.
“THEY’RE BOTTOM FEEDERS! RAM IT RIGHT DOWN THEIR THROATS!!!”
“Yes sir! LAKERS!! YES SIR!!!”
Several other people were starting to become very aware of Big Lakers Guy. This dude was shouting as loud as you can possible imagine somebody shouting.
Regardless, the game tipped off and off we went.
AD drew first blood, but it was just a drip, making the second of two free throws just twenty seconds into the game. But it was Trae Young who really drew first blood, draining a three and making a nice floater that delighted the Hawks fans that were actually around. Big Lakers Guy was not pleased.
“THEY’RE BOTTOM FEEDERS! RAM IT RIGHT DOWN THEIR THROATS!!”
“Yes sir! LAKERS!! YES SIR!!!”
After several more and consecutive “RAM IT RIGHT DOWN THEIR THROATS!!” from Big Lakers Guy, a lot of people now were looking over to see just who was doing all of this obnoxiously loud yelling. Even Boogie, sitting at the very end of the bench right in front of us, had to turn around and give him a look.
Yeah, Big Lakers Guy was legit.
Who else was legit? Dwight Howard as the Ultimate Hype Man on the bench! Dwight was constantly jumping up to cheer his teammates, mimic plays and just be an overall clown, having the time of his life. His sidekick? Alex Caruso! We watch all of the Lakers games, so we are well versed in the cuts to the Lakers bench showing Dwight and Caruso having fun, but it’s another thing to see them do it every single play. It was delightful.
Then we got a LeBron fast break two-handed slam! And not too much later, we got another LeBron two-handed slam with a bit of a double clutch. Not long after that, we got a patented LeBron spin move around poor Alex Len and a one handed LeBron power dunk!
Something we did not anticipate at all was seeing just how scary LeBron is. When LeBron is running downhill at you, it really is like a freight train. That’s the only way to describe it. A train barreling down on top of you. LeBron was dominating. The girl sitting in the row behind us said to her boyfriend in a hushed tone, “He’s a monster.” They were Hawks fans. And they were scared.
LeBron wasn’t just dominating. LeBron was putting on a show. There were a lot of celebs in the house. Evander Holyfield. Idris Elba. Yfn Lucci. Lamar Odom. Basketballin.net. And we all got our money’s worth.
LeBron, on offense, jokingly tried to block a layup by Rondo, his teammate.
LeBron had a no-look between the legs behind him assist to Dwight who threw down a glorious power dunk. We were raising the roof.
LeBron, several times, did that thing where instead of looking up while dribbling, he just stared down at the ball, and you know it’s going up. “It’s going up!” - we could not help but announce. LeBron made four three-pointers, one super deep one in the eyes of the double-team, and it never felt so good to throw our trio of middle, ring and pinky fingers up high in the air as a part of it.
It was everything we could have wanted out of a Sunday. Even better, the game was close! All credit to the Hawks, who fought their asses off to stay in it.
Ice Trae is a lot faster in person, and also a lot more frantic and herky jerky.
Jabari Parker gets physical.
Cam Reddish, on a couple of occasions, had a bad play on offense and he seriously lolly gagged while getting back on defense, jogging slowly and causing problems for the Hawks defense. Come on, rook!
The Lakers led by 4 with one minute left. (Yes, the game FLEW by.) That’s when Jabari was called for a foul on AD that we thought looked like a block. And Jabari immediately did the twirling finger in a circle motion to tell Lloyd Pierce to challenge. The twirling finger in a circle motion looks even more ridiculous up close. But the Hawks won the challenge!
De’Andre Hunter was fouled and the rookie knocked down a pair of big free throws to make it a two-point game. Then LeBron was fouled and went to the line with 15 seconds left. The crowd was raucous. He clanked the first one. LeBron made the second.
Lakers 99, Hawks 96. 15.2 seconds left. Hawks ball.
The legend Vince Carter drove the lane and had an easy layup but elected to kick it to the corner to Cam Reddish who had a great wide open look at what would have been the game-tying three. A big part of us wanted that Reddish three to go down so that we would either get a LeBron buzzer-beater or OT.
It didn’t go down. Danny Green rebounded. Danny Green was fouled. Danny Green made both free throws. Ballgame.
Lakers 101, Hawks 96.
LeBron’s final stat line: 32 points on 12 of 21 shooting, 4 of 10 from three, with 13 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 blocks and a steal.
AD’s final stat line: 27 points on 11 of 23 shooting (0 of 6 from three), with 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and a steal.
Holy shit, we hardly mentioned AD! Last year at this time, we saw AD live at the Smoothie King Center twice and we could not take our eyes off of him. Tonight, we could not keep our eyes off of LeBron. But we still saw AD being a menace on D, getting easy brow buckets and just being everywhere that he was needed. We are reluctant to report that AD was noticeably limping and hobbling around during stoppage after a tangle up with 4 minutes to go. We did not like the sight of that. At all. But he stayed in and played through it, cause that’s what superstars do.
After LeBron finished his immediate on-court post-game interview, LeBron walked our way one final time. The kids had piled up around us, pushing toward the railing. LeBron flicked his wrist bands up and walked on back to the locker room.
AD went by shortly after as the last Laker to leave the court. The roaring kids subdued and scattered, somewhat defeated because they didn’t get an autograph, but also elated, because we finally got to see LeBron and the Lakers up close and in person.
We’ll never forget it. And we’ll never forget Big Lakers Guy.
RAM IT RIGHT DOWN THEIR THROATS!!!
LAKERS!! YES SIR!!!
We love this game!