Monday night at Arco Arena, if you closed your eyes and just let the sound wash over you, it was the glory days again.
But instead of Chris and Peja and Vlade and Mike and Doug, it was Kevin and Spencer and Beno and Omri and Andres. The latter quintet are hardly household names for basketball fans, not even for Sacramento Kings fans, but Monday night they awakened all the old passions.
What had been the best fans in the NBA were back at Arco and on their feet. It was the first sold-out crowd in recent memory, and players gave them plenty to cheer about.
The first quarter looked like the sagging Kings of recent times, down 14 points early. But as the game progressed, they came back and never stopped coming and coming and coming.
At the end of a frenetic fourth quarter, fans were on their feet for a full six minutes as the Kings and the Memphis Grizzlies traded the lead several times.
Towards the end of regulation, it looked like the Kings would lose another heartbreaker for sure.
Down two points with six seconds left, Spencer Hawes delivered a sharp bounce pass to Beno Udrih, who squirted in and flipped the ball into the basket for a 110-110 tie. The Kings then trounced the Grizzlies in overtime, outscoring Memphis 17-6.
There was plenty of post-game babble. Has Spencer earned a spot in the starting lineup? Is Beno back? What happened to Tyreke Evans? But those are questions for coach Paul Westphal.
For a night, the excitement was back. We can only hope it lasts.
The Atlanta Hawks are up tonight for the Kings' second home game of the season. It may be too much to expect another thriller like Monday night but Kings' fans are hungry for a return to the good old days when the team never seemed to lose at home. Go Kings.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.