{"id":924,"date":"2026-05-20T11:05:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T11:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=924"},"modified":"2026-05-20T11:05:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T11:05:03","slug":"the-goal-for-road-teams-in-the-nba-playoffs-is-to-enjoy-the-quiet-in-some-arenas-its-hard-to-find","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=924","title":{"rendered":"The goal for road teams in the NBA playoffs is to enjoy the quiet. In some arenas, it’s hard to find"},"content":{"rendered":"

OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 If there was an injury report for such things, the San Antonio Spurs would be listing the voice of coach Mitch Johnson as questionable these days. It\u2019s a bit scratchy right now, almost as if he\u2019s been gargling with gravel.<\/p>\n

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And it won\u2019t get better anytime soon. He\u2019s going to do a lot of screaming on Wednesday night in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, win or lose. It\u2019s inevitable, provided that he wants his team to have a chance of hearing anything that he says.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not five-on-five when teams come to play at Paycom Center, the home of the Oklahoma City Thunder. It\u2019s like 18,005-on-five. It\u2019s loud in there. No, really. It\u2019s LOUD in there \u2014 with decibel levels routinely somewhere around 110, which is roughly the equivalent of a jackhammer. The T-shirts handed out for Game 1 read \u201cOklahoma City Loud,\u201d and no, it\u2019s not just a saying. It\u2019s who Thunder fans are.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say anytime you play a team that is having or has had the level of recent success as the Thunder have, the fans follow,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThere\u2019s people that get enthusiastic and bring energy to support. I would say that this would be probably one of the higher-end fan bases and arenas in terms of what the environment is like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crowd noise is a major part of Thunder games. The fans know exactly what to do and when to do it, and in those moments they clearly aren\u2019t afraid to take a deep breath and make as much noise as humanly possible.<\/p>\n

Starting lineups get announced? Noise. Thunder score? Noise. They even have signs to coax a certain volume from fans during some timeouts \u2014 the levels being loud, louder and loudest, and the difference is more than a little bit noticeable.<\/p>\n

Obviously, the home team has to exist in that environment as well.<\/p>\n

There was a moment in Game 1 on Monday night when Thunder coach Mark Daigneault had something to say to one of the referees, so he started shouting and got no response. He took a few steps down the sideline; again, no response. A few more steps; still nothing. Finally, one of the referees noticed him \u2014 but it took until Daigneault was two or three steps over midcourt, maybe a bit closer to the Spurs\u2019 bench than his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the loudest basketball arena I\u2019ve ever been in. … I think it\u2019s just a testament to how much the community cares, how much this city cares about basketball and this team,\u201d Thunder guard Alex Caruso said during last season\u2019s playoff run.<\/p>\n

How loud does it get? \u201cDeafening,\u201d Caruso said.<\/p>\n

Every NBA building is loud on some level, particularly when things are going well. The four left in these playoffs \u2014 Paycom in Oklahoma City, the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Rocket Arena in Cleveland and Madison Square Garden in New York \u2014 all can get quite raucous.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSome of these arenas, the timeout and the music\u2019s playing and you\u2019re like, \u2018I\u2019m not even going to say anything until the music (is over).\u2019 It\u2019s crazy,\u2019\u201d Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said.<\/p>\n

The Cavs had MSG quiet on Tuesday night, until they didn\u2019t. The Knicks rallied from 22 points down in the fourth quarter and won Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals in overtime<\/a> . The Garden was not quiet in any way, as would be expected.<\/p>\n

Paycom was quiet at the end Monday night, when the Spurs were finishing off their double-overtime victory in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. That is the remedy: If visiting teams don\u2019t want to hear it, they simply have to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really puts emphasis on the players to echo calls and communicate with each other because there\u2019s no way anyone on the sideline, let alone myself or whoever\u2019s coaching, is going to be able to get all five guys\u2019 attention at times,\u201d Johnson said of the challenge of coaching on the road in very loud places. \u201cAnd with that being said, I hope there\u2019s also a level of competitiveness and enjoyment of being in an environment like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spurs forward Julian Champagnie gave Thunder fans quite the compliment Tuesday when he described their volume level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was trying to talk on defense,\u201d Champagnie said, \u201cand I couldn\u2019t hear myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what made the quiet at the end even sweeter. The silence was proof of a job well done.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means you\u2019re doing something right,\u201d Champagnie said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney and AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno in New York contributed.<\/p>\n

Read more Key primaries show Trump\u2019s power over the GOP<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/nba<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

San Antonio Spurs coach Mitch Johnson sounds like he\u2019s been yelling a lot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nThe goal for road teams in the NBA playoffs is to enjoy the quiet. In some arenas, it's hard to find - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=924\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The goal for road teams in the NBA playoffs is to enjoy the quiet. 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