An NBA Game in person: Celtics vs. 76ers Report Card

Everyone has guilty pleasures that they feel compelled to share with people. Others tend to bury those pleasures deep within their conscience, never to be revealed to the public. For example, I'm a pretty big Survivor fan. You know, that show that's been on since 2000 and is in its 28th season on CBS. But not everyone is so open about these pleasures, various things they've done. But I feel the need to share this one with people, and I'm not even remotely proud of it, but it needs to be said:

I went to an NBA game last night. 

If you've been reading this blog or listening to the Sports Power Half Hour for awhile, you'd know the NBA ranks fourth in terms of my professional sports interests by a fairly large margin. But this season in particular, with the latest Tankapalooza, has been a bigger turnoff than girls who chew tobacco. 

And last night's Celtics-76ers game just might have been the lowest point. The Celtics entered the game 29 games below .500, at a not-so-robust 23-52. And to the Sixers' credit, they came in scorching hot, winners of two of their last three games following a 25-game losing streak. Anyways they were 16-59 heading into the contest, 43 games below .500. You do the math: the teams were a combined 72 games below .500. 

Self-inflicted wounds, mind you, with each team doing their best Miami Marlins firesale impression to improve their respective positions in the draft lottery, but that's another story for another time. For the here and now, a brief report card about my travels to the TD Garden last night:

Affordability: A-

Me and three of my buddies spent $22 a ticket for section 306, way up in the nosebleeds. To call it a "professional" sporting event might be simplifying things in terms of last night, but I guess since Michael Carter-Williams and Rajon Rondo played, we'll let it slide. It would be a solid "A" if not for the fact that, you know, I still spent $22 to see Kelly Olynyk and Kris Humphries play big minutes for the once-proud Celtics.

Atmosphere: C-

I'll say this much: not many other cities would have filled an arena like Celtics fans did last night. Definitely not a sellout, but I'd say at least 90% full. The Miami Heat could only dream of crowds like last nights. But I saw lots of families there last night, unusual for a Friday night game. I think parents were just taking their kids to the game because it was "cool," not because it was a good game. The low point had to be people in section 300 attempting about 15 times to start "the wave," which is a grave offense anyways, but under last night's circumstances? Shameful. Plus no one really seemed to care that the Celtics lost.

Gameplay: D

I couldn't put it any better than Ice Cube: Rondo f***ed around and got a triple double. To say he looked disengaged would be an understatement. For Philly, Michael Carter-Williams is the real deal, with a quality 24 points, 6 boards and 6 assists. How he fell to no. 11 in last June's abysmal draft could have its own "Brady 6" type special some day. Other than those two? Uh....I noticed Brandon Davies, the dude who got kicked out of BYU for yada yada yada, was on the Sixers. I attempted to convince people that Jerryd Bayless was Skip's son. Not much else to see here.

Intangibles: B+

I was at the Barclays in Brooklyn for the A-10 Tournament a few weeks ago, and beer was $10.25. But it was 24 ounces. Last night at the Garden, it was also $10.25, but for just 20 ounces. Pre-game, we went to Hurricane O'Reilly's, a place I started going when the Bruins were in the Celtics position, not vise versa. Great food, and I can't recommend the "Bruin Burger" enough. 32 oz. pitchers of Molson Canadian for just $6 too....sign me up. A guy in the bathroom, a Celtics fan, saw PT wearing his Sixers jersey. The guy said "we can't make fun of many teams this year, but we can make fun of yours!" Funny moment but honestly neither fan base has anything to "make fun" of. It was possibly the least hostile environment I've ever been to. The T was very punctual last night too. So we had that going for us, which was nice.

Overall: C

Look it's always fun going to a game with your buddies, no matter the sport. It's a little league adage I believe, "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game." And when neither team has any interest of actually winning, and most Celtics fans were actually happy with a loss because of the extra ping-pong balls they'll get in the lottery....I don't get the attraction. There's a flaw in the system when teams are encouraged to lose on purpose for the sake of a lottery pick. Thank God the Bruins are on right now.