The squeaks of sneakers echoed. Every bounce of the ball resounded. The typewriters of sportswriters click-clacked in the silence, and the phone on the scorers’ table let out a jarring ring every few minutes. Players had to keep in check their complaints about the refs; coaches had to keep their in-huddle voices low. There was no band to pump up the crowd, no fans to pump up the players.
In 1989, Siena’s men’s basketball team played nine games in front of empty arenas, and despite a triumphant outcome, it was, to quote point guard Marc Brown, “awful.”
Thursday night, the Golden State Warriors and the New Jersey Nets will become the first NBA teams in the current pandemic to play a game without fans.