Knicks, Warriors Ball In Relative Silence

The New York Knicks brass tested a novel concept during a March 5 game against the visiting Golden State Warriors: Returning to the days of no in-game music or between-quarter entertainment. 

Kathy Willens – Knicks vs Warriors
NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden in New York.

During the first half of the game, a message was displayed on the scoreboard stating, “The first half of today’s game will be presented without music, video, or in-game entertainment so you can experience the game in its purest form. Enjoy the sounds of the game.”

The “sounds of the game” being referenced are mostly the squeaking of sneakers and yelling of players and coaches, but a lot of the fans took to Twitter to express their enjoyment of the event.

“The Knicks having no music vs the Warriors was great, just basketball. Low crowd noise no sound effects. It’s not a nightclub,” one user wrote. The players were less appreciative, though. Draymond Green of the Warriors said: “It was ridiculous. It changed the flow of the game. It changed everything. You get used to playing a certain way. It completely changed it.

“Did you see that first half? It was just bad, sloppy, all over the place. There was no rhythm to the game. All this stuff makes a difference in a game, believe it or not.”

Other players like the Warriors’ Stephen Curry and the Knicks’ Kristaps Porzingis and Warriors Coach Steve Kerr acknowledged that the lack of music changed the feel of the game.

Green also said that the players had not been notified of the plans to not play music until the day of the contest, but didn’t think it was an attempt to throw the Dubs off their game, as the Knicks players seemed just as disrupted as they were.

At press time, the Knicks hadn’t issued a statement on whether they will repeat the experiment.