Increased concerns over the coronavirus pandemic has led to leagues around the world — and the NCAA tournament — electing to hold games without fans.
Thursday’s game between the Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets will be among those games played in an empty arena. And, obviously, looking beyond the public health concerns, the experience of playing in an empty arena will be weird for NBA players who have spent much of their lives playing in front of packed crowds.
The game-night atmosphere will be entirely different, but Warriors star Steph Curry would like to see one thing remain the same at the Chase Center come Thursday: the music.
Steph says he still wants music. @DaveDuFourNBA is literally foaming at the mouth in his office pic.twitter.com/nQEiK6EeQK
— pro bowl mvp (@rynej__) March 11, 2020
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Curry explained how the closed-door matchup with Brooklyn will be a change for him. The routine will change. The energy will be different. But he would like for the Chase Center to continue to play music just give everyone a sense of normalcy. Curry said:
“For sure. Let’s try to make things as normal as possible. I remember a game in New York a couple of years ago. They did kind of an old-school, throwback game with no PA announcer, but there were fans in the crowd. That was even weird where you didn’t have ‘defense’ chants or instrumentals playing or whatever it was. I don’t know how they’re gonna do it.”
Either way, Curry does make a strong point. The in-arena music is as much about giving the players some rhythm as it is engaging the fans. The energy of the game would be entirely flat without music — it already will be weird without fans.
There won’t be a dance cam, but there definitely should be music during these closed-door games.
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