Rowan Kavner
VANCOUVER – It was a preseason game the Clippers played Sunday, but the sellout crowd of 19,000 in Vancouver didn’t make it feel like one.
The fans cheered during player introductions. They cheered at every made basket. They cheered for basically anything, just happy to watching NBA players in front of them once again.
“The atmosphere was terrific,” said head coach Doc Rivers. “It was an NBA atmosphere, I think. I don’t know if they’re all from Vancouver, but it felt like we were in a regular NBA game, so it was great.”
Next Game: 10/10
Tipoff: 10:30pm PDT
The Grizzlies made Vancouver their home from 1995-2001 before moving to Memphis. During that timeframe, Doc Rivers was finishing out his playing career, though he remembers how good the crowds were more from coaching on the road in Vancouver.
He said he was surprised when the team left the city.
“I miss Vancouver, may be the better way of saying that,” Rivers said. “It’s just a great city. It really is. It’s vibrant. It’s just nice. It deserves a team, obviously, along with Seattle. Or let’s just get one team in one of the two – I would be happy with that.”
While Rivers was finishing out his playing career when Vancouver first got a team, Paul Pierce and Jamal Crawford were just beginning their careers toward the end of the Grizzlies’ time in the city.
Those two players are the only Clippers players who were in the NBA when Vancouver had a professional basketball team. Crawford, a proud Seattle native, has fond memories of those trips, and the positive feelings about the city and the crowd came back to him while playing Sunday.
“Just unbelievable,” Crawford said. “It’s a great city, great atmosphere. I actually came after that and played in the summer, like pick-up here. It’s always a great vibe.”
Crawford recalled a specific trip West Coast trip early in his career with the Bulls, when he went to Portland, Seattle and Vancouver for games, and his family was able to attend all three, which is a rarity in the NBA.
Nearly everyone on the Clippers was celebrated in Vancouver, with the audible applauses beginning even before the game.
Blake Griffin received a warm welcome when his name was announced in the starting lineup.
The crowd seemed to cheer anything he did, which was the case even before the game, as one of his pregame dunks knocked down the shot clock above the rim.
“That was crazy,” Griffin said. “When we went up for warm-ups, I always do this thing where I jump on the rim. I came down and a screw hit me in the face, so we were looking up at the rim, and I guess Cole (Aldrich) dunked and another screw came out. We just kind of loosened it up.”
The positivity was obvious for nearly every Clippers player.
Paul Pierce, who knocked the Raptors out of the playoffs in four games last year with the Wizards and in seven games the year prior with the Nets, had the unlucky circumstance of being booed by the raucous crowd every time he touched the ball.
“Paul’s been booed since I’ve known him,” Rivers joked. “He’s an expert at it. It actually fuels him. If I’m an opposing crowd, I’d cheer for him. He wouldn’t know how to take that.”