My first NBA game watched in the States was Portland Trail Blazers vs. Indiana Pacers. These teams have rich history and many of their players’ names are in the Basketball Hall of Fame. For a couple of last seasons they have occupied 4-5 places in the Western (Portland) and Eastern (Indiana) conferences. My game was a semifinal matchup in NBA playoff series.

I was standing for quite a long time in front of the sports arena (Moda Center) and I was watching people coming to see the game of their local team. Almost all of them were wearing red and white and black colours with Portland, Blazers or Rip City printing (the last nickname was given spontaneously by a sports commentator Bill Schonelly). I came to Moda Center from Portland downtown on foot, across a huge bridge with a stunning view of the whole city. For more lazy visitors there are trams and buses and the stop is just round the corner from the centre entrance. The system of public transportation in Portland is very well developed.

I had entered the arena 20 minutes before the game started (to be precise, 35 minutes as the NBA games start about 15 minutes after its scheduled time, but more about it below). You put your valuables or any metal items in a basket, cross a security gate, take your belongings back and enter the arena. There are so many entrances on each side that there is no risk of being stuck in a crowd. Inside there was a festival. The atmosphere of warmth and happiness. I went around the zero level quickly, had a look at the shops (4 official team stores), the bars (pizza, burgers, tacos, chicken wings, BBQ market, 7 concession stands with alcoholic beverages) and some other places (guest information booth My first Blazers game registration – I took advantage to get my certificate, BuyBetterTickets and others).

I bought a Rip City T-shirt with Damian Lillard, took a quick photo at the basketball floor level (no problems with entering, you can easily walk between lower rows and the staff takes a photo of you with pleasure) and finally went upstairs to my seat. The upper level had even more attractions, food stands and other ideas (team colours face painting, measuring hand size and arm span, creating your own posters, lottery coupons). Once I digested my impressions and got just a glimpse at everything – I was already 6 minutes late for the first quarter :) Shame for the NBA fan, but no worries.

Now a bit about the seats. I have been watching NBA games since I was a child, I have read million of articles on games and seats, I knew arena size already (which is not the biggest). I bought the cheapest ticket and paid 20 dollars for the ticket, tax and service at viagogo.com (I recommend it, the site nba.com doesn’t work properly). Very cheap indeed. But I have two more games ahead, the one of the Lakers and the other of the Clippers (for which I spent 177 and 88 dollars respectively, * interesting that for the Lakers I have a similar seat, or even worse than the one I had for the Blazers, but still for a location and climate you have to pay 10 times more). I chose sector 305, I could see everything PERFECTLY, really, with no binoculars or something. For 20 dollars I watched an excellent game (although Indiana didn’t do well). It is not a slightest problem to walk between the sectors and watch parts of the game at each entrance at the zero level (but I didn’t want to feel embarrassed personally, and, besides, I was really comfortable with my seat). Atmosphere 11/10. 

You can hear the opinions that NBA games are more festivals than sporting events and watching a live game is not really fun. Well, for a guy who regularly sat up till late at night to watch NBA live stream online and the other day was sitting at the uni with rings round his eyes, totally absent until he drank his second coffee... NBA LIVE GAME IS SPLENDID. Only when watching a live game you can see athletism of the players, their agility and fluidity when moving. And their silhouettes. Time flies very quickly. Not to mention that I was late for the first quarter. If you watch a game stream online, legal or illegal, in the middle of the night, when all your family is sleeping... you have the feeling of loneliness, game breaks seem to be endless and the only thing you want to do is to switch it off :) Being a spectator of a live game, you finally see what is going on. The festival? For me, it is a sense of community. Every break is a different show, every break is also a chance to get some gift or win a dream trip. Let’s not forget about half court shots when you can win thousands of dollars or new cars.

When I heard the final whistle (Indiana unfortunately wasn’t lucky at all and Portland won with 12 points difference), I had a feeling that I was there for only 15 minutes, when actually it was almost 2,5 hour :)

Small summary of expenses:

The ticket 20$

If you wish: a souvenir. The smallest start from 5$. In my case, a T-shirt for 40$

If you wish: food and drink -> I had fantastic chicken tenders with fries and unlimited selection of dips for 11 dollars.

 

Participation in a unique, carnival-like event – included in the ticket price :)

 

photo source: https://www.travelportland.com/directory/rose-garden-arena/

2018-03-29