Sights and Sounds from the Spurs record-breaking game at the Alamodome

It was a historic night in San Antonio, with the Spurs set to face the defending champion Golden State Warriors in front of a record-breaking crowd at the Alamodome. While the game itself ended up with being one of the Spurs’ ultimate duds of the season — the type of blowout loss that skyrockets their point differential and hurts the narrative that they are often a team that plays above their record on many nights — it was a night more about celebrating the city of San Antonio than basketball.

The Little General Avery Johnson joined the Bally Sports broadcast, which leaves me devastated because I was stuck with ESPN since League Pass is blacked out when a game is nationally televised, and it was awful. (For example, before the game, the only people they interviewed were Warriors players Donte DiVincenzo and Jordan Poole since they played here for the 2018 Final Four, and it was the most repeated singular topic throughout the night. You’d think they’d at least begin the broadcast talking to someone from San Antonio, which didn’t happen until Gregg Popovich after halftime. Also, when the sideline reporter went to the top of the stands to show how high it was, she sat next to a Warriors fan with a sign. Come on, now, ESPN.)

Anyways, the Spurs broadcast began with AJ and Sean Elliott discussing their favorite memories from the Alamodome, which of course included the 1999 championship, Memorial Day Miracle, and Sean’s “return game” from his kidney transplant.

Before the game, the fans held a light show led by Chuck Cureau, and it was a sight to behold. Even Gregg Popovich enjoyed it (despite not realizing it was cell phones making the lights. We’re past the days of matches, Pop.)

Between the third and fourth quarters, David Robinson announced the attendance record of 68,323, which shattered the previous record by more than 6,000 and exceeded even the original capacity of 65,000 after standing-room-only tickets were sold. Well done, San Antonio!

The game even closed with fireworks.

Oh yes, there was game played. As previously mentioned, it was one of the Spurs’ uglier losses of the season. I truly thought they’d come out fired up and at least be competitive for three quarters. Instead, the jitters seemed to get to them early, but like all games it had its moments.

Tre Jones continued his recent hot streak on offense, shooting 7-11 from the field for a team-high 21 points and 5 assists.

Romeo Langford was one player who didn’t seem intimidated by the moment early, providing some much-needed points after the Warriors jumped out to an early double-digit lead.

Jeremy Sochan, with a nice nod to 90’s Dennis Rodman with the new hair, found some open space for the dunk as Jones came driving.

Finally, while the game quickly ballooned out of control after halftime, Keldon Johnson made sure to give Spurs fans something to get up and cheer about in the second half with a Big Body slam.

It wasn’t a great game, but it was a fun, historic event for the City of San Antonio, and this was one of those games that was bigger than basketball.