So I sat courtside under the basket Sunday against Boston along with my wife and baby girl... we had a blast! One great thing about being so close is the ability to engage the players with some good-natured banter. A couple highlights:
- I asked referee Bill Kennedy to "give me one of his trademark blocking calls... we need to see that pelvic thrust again". He turned around, laughed, and shook his head. https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/971597742937165824
- I was convinced that at some point in their rookie season, when Markieff Morris was on the Suns and Marcus Morris was on the Rockets, that they switched places for a week or so. I remember one of them being a much better 3pt shooter and the other a much better rebounder and for a week there their stats almost flip-flopped. Being that they are identical twins with exact identical tattoos, haircuts, etc., surely they did this "trading places" growing up and why not try it in the NBA? When I asked Marcus about him "switching with 'Kieff" during their rookie year and that I knew they did... he gave me this look of raised eyebrows and a little guilty smirk. I'm telling you, it happened!
- Most importantly, while free throws were being shot and Greg Monroe was on the baseline, I asked him "Com on Greg, why wouldn't you come back home and sign with the Pels... you would have gotten much more playing time?". He point blank responded "You better ask Dell Demps about that one" and made the Manziel "money" sign with his hands. I told him, "its ok... 'Mek is balling for us anyway" to which he responded "sheeeeet!"
Just reinforcing one of a million reasons why the NBA is the best league out there. No other sport allows you to get that close to the action and unless you are being vulgar or ugly, the players will engage right back. Great game!