The Heat could not sell out Game One with the Knicks on
Saturday and "needed the day of the game to sell its last
800 tickets to pack 15,200-seat Miami Arena on Monday,"
according to Alan Snel of the Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL.
That's "sobering news" for team Owner Micky Arison, who's
"moving his club" to a new venue, AmericanAirlines Arena,
that has 5,000 more seats. Arison "wasn't fretting," and
said the short notice of Saturday's game, plus an
inconvenient time in a market filled with weekend leisure
options, caused Saturday's non-sellout. Arison: "No offense
to Indiana, but Miami is not Indiana where there's nothing
to do but basketball." Arison noted the early 12:30pm ET
start-time on Saturday: "Everything was geared to NBC, but
that was not the best time from the fan's perspective" (Ft.
Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 5/11).
WHERE O' YOU ALL? In Orlando, L.C. Johnson reports that
there are 3,900 tickets remaining at Orlando Arena for Game
Two tonight against the 76ers. Johnson: "So why are the
Magic no longer the hot ticket? I'll tell you why. The
fans got too spoiled and pampered from the Shaq era to
realize what a good thing they have right now. And to me,
that's just lame" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 5/11).
WON'T LOSE THEIR HEAD: The Pacers are showing their
"unity" during the playoffs this year by wearing black socks
instead of shaving their heads, which they did last year.
Pacers F Dale Davis: "Last time Rik's (Smits) head and
(Chris) Mullin's head and a couple of other guys' heads just
didn't go over well" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 5/10).
