The New Orleans Pelicans put up a valiant fourth quarter rally led by Anthony Davis against the Warriors in Game 1 of their first-round match up, but Golden State prevailed. Pelicans head coach Monty Williams is doing what he can to manage this young Pelicans team against the best home court advantage team in the league, which also means challenging the legality of how loud it can get in Oracle Arena.
Williams’ very real concerns, via Diamond Leung of Bay Area News Group:
“I’m not so sure that the decibel level is legal there, and I’m serious,” Williams said before Game 2 of the first-round series Monday. “They’ve done studies on that. Being on the competition committee, there’s got to be something to that because it does get a little out of hand.
“I’ve talked about it for years, you’ve got some of the best fans in the league here, and they show up early. The music before the game, they’re playing old school music, and it’s right above your locker room. And you’re like, ‘These people are crazy, man. This is pretty cool.’ So I’m sure it has an effect, but after a few minutes, it’s just basketball.”
Williams wants us to know how serious he is about this. After all, he is on the competition committee, and he has both the means and the incentive to address this further. That being said, I’m not sure what the strategy would be to encourage the diminishing of decibel levels at home games. It’s just another facet of the difficulty of winning on the road.
Unfortunately for Williams and the Pelicans, Warriors guard Klay Thompson doesn’t think they’ve heard anything yet.
Dubs’ Klay Thompson in response to complaints from Pels coach Monty Williams about Game 1 noise levels in Oakland: “I’ve heard it louder”
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) April 20, 2015
We’ll see how loud it gets tonight. I suspect Williams’ comments might make it worse.
