One of the best atmospheres in the NBA is at the Air Canada Centre, especially when the playoffs roll around. The decibels really benefit the home team Toronto Raptors and their playoff opponents in the Washington Wizards learned that the hard way.
In Game 1, the Washington Wizards were really affected by the home crowd and at some points, they couldn't hear anything their teammates were saying.
“They have an obviously unbelievable crowd,” Marcin Gortat said postgame. “Those fans are very loud, and at some point you can't hear your teammate standing next to you, so we do a lot of things on the fly. We just read our body language and we know each other. We know the tendencies of our teammates, so that's just the moment you got to react.”
The Wizards were able to stick in the game but towards the end, the Raptors made the plays and the crowd really helped with the home court advantage.
For the Wizards, another big issue they had in Game 1 besides the crowd was the play of the bench. Mike Scott added 14 points off the bench, but the next leading scorer after him was Kelly Oubre Jr. who had three points.
For the Raptors, they had three players come off the bench and score nine points or more and that was the difference in the game.
In Game 2 on Tuesday night, it will probably come down to which bench outperforms the other, and if the Wizards can find a way to overcome the crowd.
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