Ben Aronin's Blog
A BEEutiful Night / May 9, 11:00 AM
It’s no secret that I’m quite possibly slightly more than mildly obsessed with basketball. I love it all. Playing it, teaching it, watching it, and most definitely going to NBA Playoff games.
When Michael (a mission year alum, and Drew’s friend) came into town he also brought with him a fantastic idea. What if we got tickets to game 5, and brought some people from the neighborhood. My first thought was “Who would get the biggest kick out of going to the game?” Immediately I thought of Joshua. He’s an 11 year old boy that is maybe more obsessed with basketball than I am. I didn’t know what to do with the other ticket. I thought of both Brandon (a fourth grader from my class) or Nolan (the guy who lives behind us). When game time rolled around Nolan had something urgent come up, and so at the last minute I asked Josh who we should take. He decided to call his Father. I was glad to hear that. He could have called any friend, and he called his dad. I was also glad to hear this because I’ve really only met him
On the way there we learned that neither had been to a Hornets game since they came to New Orleans, but Gerald had seen Pistol Pete play when the Jazz still called the Big Easy home. He reminisced about how amazing Pistol played. He said a point guard hasn’t passed the same since.
The Hive was packed, and it was loud. The Hornets rolled a 4 point first quarter lead (I’d just like to mention that Chris Paul already had 7 assists!) and turned it into a 54-39 at halftime.
Josh was having a blast. I felt like a kid myself. I loved every minute and every chant. Jason Kidd was booed every time he touched the ball because of a flagrant foul in game 4. People chanted “Stop the flop” at Dirk every time he shot free throws. Once Chris Paul solidified his first post-season triple double the chants of “MVP! MVP!” rained down like a New Orleanian downpour.
Josh and I spent some time trying to capture some great pictures. It was tough because any little movement from that far away would make our entire picture blurry. It didn’t matter though it was our goal to try to get a picture worth framing from the rafters. Maybe we could catch Chris Paul in the middle of a sweet move, or Peja nailing a jumper. Maybe we could catch Tyson Chandler dunking. Maybe we would get the perfect picture of a last second shot. The night was full of possibilities!
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