WELCOME TO BARCLAYS CENTER!
As I posted earlier, I was at the Barclays Center today to watch us lose to the Nets!
I really wanted to share my experience for people who are thinking of attending a game in New York, and don’t want to spend an arm and a leg (and your soul) to MSG’s prices. This is a good alternative to MSG, sans a few problems here and there, but it shouldn’t be much of an issue.
Let’s start with the Center**:**
Price - For near-front row seats that are not VIP/Qatar level, this cost me about $205 USD, totaling ~$250 with taxes + fees. This is an amazing price I feel for seats are so close to the players and the court compared to MSG, which is about 5x that price for that distance and view.
Perks - Here’s the great part of why that price was so good; you get unlimited food and drinks (non-alcoholic) for the entire duration of the game. That is from start to finish. You are given a voucher that you can use on every concession restaurant. It doesn’t matter how many times you want to eat, you will get it. You are allotted one entree, one drink and one dessert every visit. You want more? Come and get it on your next run-around. They are only one flight of stairs away as well!
If you’re feeling super lazy or just want to get smashed, you are given a personal QR code on your seat, where you can order some snacks and alcoholic drinks straight to your location. These are expensive, about $15USD per bottle for the lowest beer or hard liquor. You can definitely tell who are the rich guys in the section cause only rich old dudes were ordering it. Non-stop.
Food! - As you can see, I got the popular chicken fingers to start. But I also ate a sandwich and some pizza. Few things to note, however - 1) These are loaded with calories to make you full. They don’t want you eating nonstop, so all these foods are meant to bloat you. I wanted 4 meals this entire game, but by the 3rd, I was already dying.
Fried chicken is extremely popular for a reason. It’s pretty good! By halftime, you will find yourself in an extremely long line for them.
As someone who is in the NYC area, the pizza is not NY/NJ level. Not even close. It sucks. You’re better off getting pizza fresh at the start, because the pizza at halftime can be a jawbreaker. My crown tooth felt the brunt of it before I gave up and ate the cheese.
Bottled water is free with your front-row seat, but they will take the caps. Apparently people keep throwing them, so your bottle is always open. The seats have cup holders, but they will not hold bottles, so you’re holding an open water bottle the whole time. Just go for diet soda or something.
The bars around the arena are fantastic. You should definitely take a trip sometime, possibly at the beginning, because they fill up fast as the game goes on.
Seating Experience - The seats are comfortable, but if you’re a big guy or have a big coat, you will have trouble. You won’t be able to share arm rests with anyone, so make sure to assert dominance and take one of the two, or either fold your arms like a dad, or clash those hands together like a kid who’s in trouble with the principle. Or, you can assume gaming position. I went for the latter. I was locked in.
Amazing view. You can see everything, but the whistle on the other side is impossible to hear. I didn’t hear it once. It was awesome to see Matty D in person, though!
You’re an arm’s length away from restrooms and restaurants even when you’re so far down. Great access to a lot of things. It’s worth every penny.
It’s HOT in this arena. The temp went up by 10 degrees (F) real quick. If there was any AC in this arena, it wasn’t on. I was sweating just by sitting there.
Traveling - It’s not as easy to get here as MSG, as you’re going to be taking an extra train, usually a much older MTA train at that, which is constantly full from start to finish. Wait times can be brutal, especially if you miss a train.
“Should I drive?” No.
“But what if I got a rental and-” No. Any NY’er will tell you how dumb it is to bring a car to any arena. There’s no parking, and the cheapest one is $35-50 flat and you STILL have to walk. Stop it. Don’t kid yourself into thinking it’s convenient. It’s not. New York City wasn’t made for convenience. That’s why New Yorkers are always rough around the edges. Expect delays. All the time.
And for god’s sake, if you can help it, don’t use buses. Use the trains. Yeah, it’s dank and sometimes weirdly hot down there, and the seats are a 50/50 in terms of sanitation, but trust me, you’ll be fine.
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With that being said, enough of that. Let’s talk about the team up close and my experience!:
- These mfers are HUGE. When the Brooklynettes went to dance, they were like tiny people compared to them.
- Masai and Bobby’s extremely oiled up hair were here! They showed up minutes before tip-off. Bobby’s hair was so shiny the reflection of the light off of it blinded me for a moment.
- Shootaround was the best indication that these dudes weren’t gonna do well shooting from 3. They all missed. And I don’t mean they missed because the balls were hitting each other at the rim. They were bricking. Every. Single. One of them. Felt like a precursor.
- Scottie was the only dude who struck a pose when his name was called for the starting lineup. The kids love him, too. They were screaming for him, even the kids who were Nets fans. Maybe his twitch stream was more popular than I thought.
- Precious.EXE stopped functioning the second the Brooklynettes came to dance. I mean, stopped. He held the ball during shootaround and went into a trance. He was pretending to not look, but this mfer looked. He could not actually function. He just straight froze, even when Pyro was going off for the Nets starting five, then glance at them, then freeze. Then glance. He had to shake his head to wake his ass up and try to focus on shooting instead of the Brooklyn Girls. He swished the first three. Then never shot again. I think Scottie had to snap him back to reality.
- Speaking of Precious… yeah. If you think it’s frustrating seeing him on TV, wait till you see this dude up close and personal. It’s an experience. I legit watched him butter-finger slip the ball on 3 straight possessions on 3 great passes before I think I spazzed out. It’s almost impossible the way he fumbles the ball. It’s like his hand-eye coordination is so off, or his brain lags. It was bad. It was really, really bad. And it sucks because I like him a lot, but you can tell that for all his physical gifts, his awareness of the moment is not there at all.
- But this isn’t just his problem. He might be the worst example, but I noted that the team is constructed of physically, extremely gifted long athlete wings that seemed to have used Equivalent Exchange to use their BBIQ for more length and athleticism. A lot of them make bone-head mistakes, and they make it often.
- Nurse’s princeton offense with DHOs makes a ton of sense now, because these dudes have issues making split decisions. They are incapable of thinking on the fly. It’s why Darko wants to the 0.5 offense a lot, because he doesn’t want them thinking too much, otherwise they’ll freeze.
- I made a note to put a picture on this post of the bench, particularly this one. Because it shows why Masai chose these veterans over other prospects. Otto, Thad and Garrett were active the entire game. All three of them were talking together to the rest of the team in the TO before Darko makes his plays, trying to give very sound and solid advice. They’re amazing teammates for sure! But there’s a problem with this. I’ll get to it soon.
- I can’t even express how much support Schroder was giving. He was clapping and trying to will them during TOs and always redirecting everyone to pay attention to the play. Super positive, always trying to lift the team. It was awesome to see. A great PG. But there’s a problem with this, too. More on that soon.
- Scottie didn’t look like himself. He wasn’t screaming when the Nets were attempting a shot, and he wasn’t super aggressive in the paint. He was looking for fouls. I hated it. But at the same time, his volleyball pass to Boucher, and that other quick no-look relay pass to the paint shocked the whole crowd. They were shook. His vision and timing is immaculate.
- Darko made a note to grab the boys when they were heading to the bench to talk to them, and was super smiley and uplifting to all of them. But…
- The young guns get discouraged fast. And this is where the last few notes come to play because… maybe Bev was right. These kids are soft. I can’t describe it well, but Masai constructed the vet presence and coaching to be as supportive as possible, to the point of coddling. I’m not saying Nurse’s strict coaching was good for them either, but being all smiles and vibes really shows how fragile it is when the other team gets aggressive and starts talking that good shit. The young ones get shook. Garret made a note to talk to Precious after a TO to try and uplift him, but he looked out of it. It didn’t seem like he listened.
- That’s not to say all of them were not listening. Supporting vets and coaching works, but there has to be a balance. The ones who really benefitted were Malachi, Gary and… McDaniels? During the TOs, Malachi was constantly locked in and listening. No fooling around, no slouched shoulders. Nothing. Gary never claps or says anything, but I realized he was always listening. He was paying attention. When the vets said something, he took every word in. It was great to see.
- Speaking of Gary, man some of his shots wowed the crowd. I’m so glad his shots are falling.
- Jalen was completely in his head, but he kept trying to listen to the vets. You can see he’s struggling to improve and that he really cares about it. When he makes a wrong play, he gets REAL upset about it to the point that one of the vets or Darko has to calm him down.
- Also caught him falling asleep standing. He yawned… then just… passed out. Kind of amazing, really.
- Lastly, I needed to see it to believe it, but now I believe it. OG’s legs are otherworldly huge. I mean actual tree trunks. I mean as thick as Jak’s waist. I can’t even describe it well. No one else’s legs, NO ONE’S, came even close to the definition and appearance of pure strength than OG’s. A goddamn horse.
…and that’s about it. I didn’t intent to type so much, but wow. I enjoyed my first time at Barclays so much. I would 100% recommend it, especially paying for lower section seats. They are worth every penny!
I should mention that Scottie does listen to the vets, but the interactions he had were mostly with Schroder and Darko in terms of coaching. During free throws, he always walks to Darko to get the next play to relay it to the team if Schroder isn’t there. He is always the one who tells the team the next play.
Precious definitely felt like he tuned out for a lot of the game. I’m not sure if he was just frustrated at his own play, but the second he got his 3rd foul and realized Boucher was there to sub him, he was already in his own head.