There's a reason why the Golden State Warriors finished 39-2 at home this season. You know, aside from having MVP front-runner Stephen Curry, an amazing sidekick in Klay Thompson, an astounding supporting cast and an impressive first-year head coach in Steve Kerr. It's that intense and very vocal Oracle Arena crowd.
Prior to their Monday morning shootaround, New Orleans Pelicans head coach Monty Williams spoke about the Warriors' home court crowd and even suggested that their noise level could, wait for it, be in violation of league rules. "I'm not so sure the decibel level is legal, and I'm serious," he said. "They've done studies on that. For the competition committee, there's got to be something to that. It does get a little out of hand. Their fans, I've talked about it for years, they have some of the best fans in the league."
Now, in Monty's defense, the NFL did recently find out that the Atlanta Falcons were piping artificial crowd noise into the Georgia Dome over the last two seasons. As a result, the Falcons were fined $350,000 and lost a fifth-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. But, this Oracle Arena crowd seems authentic. Just look at how they react right after Curry crosses up his defender. You can't pipe in noise that quickly.
Watch Williams and rest of the Pelicans struggle with the Warriors' crowd noise later tonight.
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[via ESPN]
