Warriors embrace cowbells and raucous Kings crowd in Sacramento
Warriors, used to unfriendly crowds, lean into raucous Golden 1 Center noise
>Sacramento Kings fans cheer before tip off at Golden One Arena before
Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round playoffs against the Golden
State Warriors, Saturday, April 15, 2023. It is the first playoff game
for the Kings since 2006. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
By SHAYNA RUBIN | srubin@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: April 17, 2023 at 3:09 p.m. | UPDATED: April 17, 2023 at 3:49
p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/04/17/warriors-embrace-the-the-cowbells-and-raucous-kings-crowd-at-golden-1/

SACRAMENTO — The Warriors have heard everything from unkind taunts to
ringing cowbells over the years as the visiting playoff team. No matter
how bad it gets, they savor a rowdy opposing crowd. It’s motivation.

This Warriors team learned first-hand that some road arenas come playoff
time are louder than others. Golden 1 Center showed out for its playoff
debut this weekend and jumped to the top of a long list of hostile
environments the playoff veteran Warriors team has experienced.

“They haven’t been to the playoffs in how long? That’s 16 years of
energy that they’ve been waiting for,” Jordan Poole said. “We expected
it to be loud, and it’s the playoffs, too. So all arenas are gonna raise
the level a little bit of energy and excitement. This is why we play
basketball. Playoffs are the most exciting part.”

Sacramento fans bombarded the Warriors with a cacophony of cowbell rings
that amplified a crowd already excited for its first playoff game since
2006. And despite Sacramento’s close proximity to the Bay Area, only a
handful of Warriors fans pierced the Golden 1 sound.

“It was definitely loud. I didn’t expect that coming from over here, I
didn’t really expect it,” Jonathan Kuminga said at shootaround. “They
had a great crowd and I feel like that kind of helped them, too. But
that’s not really something we can’t even worry about it because we came
here to play and that’s what we’re going to do today.”

One of those fans, Bay Area rapper E-40 — who always sits next to the
Warriors bench during home games — was booted from Game 1 by arena
security after a back-and-forth with a Kings fan. The rapper later
called for an investigation into his removal, saying his ejection was
racially motivated.

The Warriors blasted E-40’s music over the speakers during their
shootaround on Monday morning. Altercations happen, but the Warriors can
only lean into any tension that arises.

“I think they probably needed more cowbell,” Klay Thompson said in jest,
alluding to Will Ferrell’s Saturday Night Live sketch.

The Warriors aren’t fazed much by a hostile crowd. They often feed off
the jeers. Especially mainstays such as Thompson, Steph Curry, Draymond
Green and Kevon Looney. They’ve heard it all.

Golden 1 Center is loud, but the Memphis Grizzlies’ crowd singing “Whoop
That Trick” and cheering after a handful of gruesome Warriors injuries
at FedEx Forum runs up there, too. Nothing compares to the Boston
Celtics fans yelling expletives at Green at TD Garden during last year’s
NBA Finals, Looney said.

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“All those were pretty loud,” Looney said. “It reaches the cap as how
loud you can get, but Boston (was the loudest).”

Green said after the Warriors won the title that he was rattled by the
entire TD Garden swearing at him in a collective jeer. He also noted
that Curry inciting the crowd during his prolific Game 4 performance was
his way of deflecting their negativity toward him and away from Green.

Kings fans aren’t taunting, but they’re embracing a playoff stage this
fanbase hasn’t seen in 17 years.

“It was great, the atmosphere was incredible,” head coach Steve Kerr
said. “It was so loud out there and the fans were so happy to have the
Kings back in the playoffs.”

--
Shayna Rubin | General Assignment Sports Reporter
Shayna Rubin is a Bay Area News Group sports reporter for The Mercury
News and East Bay Times. She covered the Oakland A's from 2019 to 2021
and, most recently, the Golden State Warriors' championship run in 2022.
Shayna is a San Francisco native. She is a graduate of San Francisco
State University with a BA degree in journalism and a MA degree in
broadcasting and electronic communication arts.