The Game Ari Lerner 1/9/13
As the clock ticked to signal 12:00 clock I was already ready to leave. It was the day before Thanksgiving and I was excited to go to the Celtics game later. I was going to the game with Alan and Jonathan, and we were going to see the Celtics V.S. Spurs game. I was excited to be with my friends, and also too see the game. My Dad was taking us there at 7:30. When we had picked Alan and Jonathan up, we headed straight to the Garden. We had parked pretty far from the Garden and we had to walk for about 15 minutes. During the walk we had started to encounter many places and people. We had once encountered a homeless man who had said, “I am calling the score! The Celtics by 15! HAHAHAHAHAH” and I replied with my own “HAHAHAHAHAH”, and the homeless man and I had a little competition on who could have laughed louder, while my Dad, Alan and Jonathan would laugh hysterically, which made me smile, I had always loved it when people had laughed form my actions or jokes! When we finally got to the stadium the blast of warm air hit us, we were surrounded by hundreds of people but the atmosphere was overwhelming. You could hear chants like “Let’s go Celtics” or “Spurs Suck!” I felt that this was my place to be, me being a huge Celtics fan I had found the Garden enticing every time I had walked in. Things from smelling freshly made chicken fingers, to seeing cheerleaders taking pictures with young fans. Once we had taken our seats the game had already started. It was 8-6, with the Spurs over the Celtics. Occasionally we would rise when Rondo had made a fabulous pass, or when Jason Terry had swished a three, but except for that I was mainly focused on talking with my friends. When we had gotten bored we had started to focus back onto the game. This cycle had continued for a while. The Celtics and Spurs kept exchanging quick baskets, towards the beginning of the second quarter it was 30-27 the Spurs were leading. It was an exciting game and people were enjoying it. The problem was the Celtics defense. Everybody has seemed to not want box out opponents and then the opposing player would easily get the rebound and either tip it back in or pass it out for a new 24. As a fan I was getting frustrated and so were others. As soon as the game was getting close, it started to shift for the Spurs. At the half the score was 56-48. The Spurs were up 6. During the third quarter things had stayed the same. The two teams would exchange baskets with Thiago Splitter crashing the board and getting an easy layup,
or with Paul Pierce stepping up and hitting jumpers with great defenders like Tony Parker or Danny Green in his face. As I had started to get bored with the game my eyes had drifted off to talk to my friends. To my surprise, they had left. I had asked my Dad where they went and he said they went to get snacks. I was honestly bummed because not only did I want to spend time with them, I had always loved hanging out with friends. I also was kind of angry that they hadn’t said anything about them going to buy food, but I had also wanted to get some of the Garden’s over-priced food. As the Fourth Quarter had started my friends were still gone and I was starting to wonder where they had gone. As I had started to look back at the jumbo-tron I almost fell out of my chair. It was 85 to 70. I was astonished. The Celtics were getting crushed! Then I had started to laugh because I noticed that when my friends were not there the Celtics seemed to do worse. Soon after that they came back, their hands were stuffed with popcorn and sodas. After they came back I got into a argument with Alan. We went back and forth arguing about how the Celtics were too old. It felt kind of good to have two different ideas, because I had always liked to debate about things, and I knew that arguing about sports with my friends would always be something I would enjoy! With him saying the Celtics needed to trade Peirce or Garnett. Once in a while we had agreed about Brandon Bass being inconstant or how Rondo needed to shoot better, but we kept on arguing, barking at each other until the other had nothing to say! As the game had started winding down I had my hopes raised again, it seemed that the Celtics could creep back into the game. But, they couldn’t. The Celtics effort was cut short. Even though the Celtics had lost the game it was a great experience. I will always remember this game, with having that laughing competition with a homeless man all the way to hearing the chants from the Celtics fans. This game had really shows how much I love basketball, how much I like having fun, being with my friends, and also standing my ground! Lets Go Celtics!