Warriors are victorious over Hawks as they pay homage to Dejan Milojevic's life
Warriors are victorious over Hawks as they pay homage to Dejan Milojevic's life
An emotional night led to a big win in Chase Center.
The Golden State Warriors mourned the loss of their beloved assistant coach Dejan Milojevic at home in Chase Center last night in front of Dub Nation, before celebrating his life with a big win over the Atlanta Hawks.
Golden State’s 134-112 victory over Atlanta was the team’s first feel good win in many moons.
They had lost two games in a row to the Milwaukee Bucks and the Memphis Grizzlies, defeats that made the fanbase question their sanity. The team had been stressing out Dub Nation the whole season with questionable roster decisions, the Draymond Green shenanigans, and a general lackluster quality to their play.
But when Milojevic passed away due to a heart attack, suddenly all that handwringing over wack basketball play melted away to the much more serious recognition of the preciousness of life. The Dubs took seven days off from basketball as they grieved his death, postponing two contests against the Utah Jazz and the Dallas Mavericks.
No matter how many games the Warriors took an L in, it was sobering to reflect on the loss of a human being beloved to his friends, family, and the basketball world.
That’s why the Warriors coming back to their friendly confines in San Francisco to beat down the Hawks reminded us of the whole gosh darn reason we watch the sport. Those two hours of basketball on a nightly help us celebrate the athletic prowess and sparkling creativity of humans, with lessons about team work, discipline, joy, and loss all baked in.
Good plays happen, bad plays occur, and the rollercoaster of emotions over four quarters give us an experience that help us both understand life a little better while providing a modicum of escape from whatever problems we deal with on a daily basis.
I really appreciate y’all for being here in this community. Most things in life are more important than basketball, and in watching the sport we get a beautiful prism to examine those ethereal concepts.
Last night we also got a beautiful view of what Jonathan Kuminga can do, as he went completely perfect 11-of-11 from the field for 25 points. AND he grabbed 9 rebounds, proving that he’s learning from his rebounding woes of last year.
And with that, a new day dawns, and a new game lies on the horizon. The Warriors take on the Kings tonight in Chase Center. Let’s celebrate that, with a bigger, fuller, deeper perspective on wins and losses.
Game thread: https://dubnationhq.com/p/game-44-gsw-vs-sacramento-plus-open
I had some thoughts about the team last night, so here are some thoughts about the arena and the fans this time.
I've been to, I think, three Warriors games in recent memory: one vs San Antonio where Steph rolled an ankle and KD "emptied the clip" to come back and win it in the final minutes; one against Sacramento during the cursed '19-20 season; and last night. The first of those was at Oracle, the other two at Chase Center.
The feel of the fans and the arena was very, very different. Oracle was a concrete jungle packed with raucous beasts, cheering and yelling so loud it felt like it drained the energy out of you and suffused it into the very air. I was hoarse the next day. I've been to watch some other sports and nothing compares to the manic, primal intensity of that arena at that time.
Chase Center is nothing like that vibe. During the down season, when it was new the fans felt somewhat confused, tentative. Some were obnoxiously loud and heckling (like the guy behind Sacramento's bench yelling at Harry Barnes to shave his beard) but many more were resigned to the fact that this wasn't a winning team. Last night's crowd also seemed bewildered; so was I, unsure what kind of team I would see in the circumstances. Of course I had heard of Milojevic, I knew Loon credited him for improving his rebounding, but I didn't know who he was as a person before the tribute video; I imagine most people in attendance were little more familiar than that, so it felt like of like attending the memorial service for a stranger.
The Chase Center facility itself is very nice: it feels state-of-the-art, there are a lot of good seats, the giant center screen helps a lot with following the action, and there are some nice food and drink options, which are very pricey of course. The fans around me did seem to know their stuff, but it was a more reserved, tentative, well-behaved fanbase. There were cheers and boos of course, but they weren't egging on the players anything like the Oracle fans. I'm sure the circumstances and the game itself contributed at first; this Atlanta team, impacted by injuries, may as well have been made of strangers, and Warriors had a comfortable lead through most of the 4th and at a few points besides that. (I feel like at some point in the 3rd, the team realized they had no one who could guard Kuminga and that was pretty much doom for the Hawks.) Probably the trepidation over Draymond being in only his second game back after suspension, the team playing in Deki's memory, and uncertainty for the future with the trade deadline looming and rumor mill in full tilt, made it hard to fully commit to cheering your heart out. Or you could blame it on economic class differences, and say that the rich San Francisco tech workers who can afford to attend the games these days are just a more introspective, quieter people. I feel a little like everyone wants to be on their best behavior to respect the arena while it still feels new, whereas a weathered old place like Oracle needs no such consideration.
In any case, I now give credence to the theory that the fan energy level in Chase Center is not on the same level as Oracle and the team can't muster the same effort level as a result.