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Kneeling national anthem, “virtual fan” quirks and other scenes from within the NBA Orlando shoot

Lake Buena Vista, Fla. • Thursday there were some reassuring similarities with the coverage of a conventional NBA game: going through a specific media entrance and going through a metal detector, dragging some of the pre-tipoff minutes into a food-laden lab and, of course, a steady stream of hip-hop music that resonates as players rise to their pre-game warm ups.

Most of the rest simply seemed incredibly foreign and strange.

To begin with, driving through the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex had to go through a quick security check. Shortly afterwards, after parking in a media / employee lot and walking towards HP Field House, another security check emerged, this time requiring a barcode scan on the back of my credentials and syncing with a “Kinexon SafeZone”. In fact, it would beep every time I was within 6 feet of someone else wearing one. He also made an audible signal when I was walking alone, nobody nearby. And it made a beep when I was not doing anything.

As for the interior of the arena, there is obviously a configuration that theoretically could resemble a game of the NBA Summer League in the context, but with most of the seats blocked by various video screens. The relatively low roof is covered by a scaffold that houses a ton of lights and speakers, although there is no central Jumbotron.

When Jazz emerged from the locker room and arrived on the pitch at 18:19 EDT, the public speech announcer remarked faintly: “Please give a warm welcome to visiting Utah Jazz”, then took a bunch of notches a few moments later ” for your new … Orleans … Pelicans! “- a nod to the convention, perhaps, if strange, considering that a soul in the building did not react to any of the exhortations, and no advantage was found in court .

Most of the players – from both teams – emerged wearing T-shirts with the words “Black Lives Matter” to go through the layup lines.

As the clocks drop to zero, a video is played (presumably anyway – it wasn’t visible from the media point of view), with the audio of various players explaining the importance of continuing to push the racial and social justice movements that take place across the country. “Things won’t change until we make them change – and we will,” he concluded.

So, given that it was announced that the national anthem would feature a recorded performance by Jon Batiste, all players, coaches and referees went to their knees on the sidelines. Jazz coach Quin Snyder and pelican coach Alvin Gentry were stuck arm in arm. It was a powerful, touching moment, with apparently every member of the media making a video to capture the historical moment – one Snyder said he was excited for.

“We support our players and look forward to participating with them,” said Snyder while wearing a Black Lives Matter hoodie. “It is so important at this point for us to be unified and to be able to peacefully protest many of the critical things that are happening in our country right now.”

For all the rest …

Well, seeing the area of ​​the scorer completely protected by plexiglass is puzzling, as are the large European football style chairs that they have for the bench players, especially with them socially spaced on three rows.

Video cards with “virtual fans” were a kind of distraction, as some fans’ videos ran at full speed, while others stayed behind. The “crowd noise” also seemed quite useless – so silent that it did not obscure the chatter from those on the field (every “5 … 4 … 3” of the assistant coaches while the clock of the time was spot on, as well as the “Oooooohhhhh from the Jazz bench after Jordan Clarkson pushed Jaxson Hayes to go one way, then promptly driving to the circle in the area he left.) It also seemed a little artificial; Donovan Mitchell’s assessment of how he looks like to the sounds of the NBA2K crowd it was pretty accurate.

Honestly, without Jumbotron available, it might have been helpful to have those video cards dedicated to showing replays (though, admitting that perhaps it opens Pandora’s box for players to complain about. everything).

Plus, lots of lots (and many) of black curtains that obscure unused areas and field-centered lighting, with the remaining relatively dark surroundings in comparison.

Yet despite all the differences, even with all the oddities to acclimatize, I must say that it was fun to be there, in flesh and blood, to see an NBA basketball game happen.

Which made it quite normal.

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