It was my first game today and there are a lot of things to share. Before the game action, I would like to tell you about transportation part which was a tough part of this game for me. A lot of planning and decision making were required to the journey.
I am living in Northern Suburb of Chicago which is approximately an hour driving distance to United Center. It is possible to go there by car as well as public transportation. I personally love to use public transportation but this was a special occasion and I would be more comfortable with my car. However; this was not an easy decision because it was Friday evening and traffic jam is very usual. It might take more than two hours to drive there. In addition, I had to go to the game with my son and he had an after school club which ends around 5 pm. The game would start at 7 pm so I might end up to miss the beginning of the game.
I was all aware of these details days before the game. Therefore; I asked about it to my friends and they all recommended to use public transportation. Moreover, I checked traffic estimations about Friday evening from different sources and they all informed me that travel might take between 50 minutes and 2 hours.
I had to say that public transportation might be very convenient for me and I did not have to spend too much time about these details but I would like to go for it. In addition, using a car needs to plan car parking in advance if you live in a capital city. Otherwise, you might end up with overcharged amount for the park. I studied my homework and compared the all possible options:
- Chicago Bulls offer $20 parking per game to season ticket holders but you need to buy the parking for the whole season,
- Chicago Bulls sell single game car parking around $30,
- Nearby car parks ask for $22
Luckily, there was another option as well. A car park which is half a mile away from United Center offered the parking just for $9 during the game. Since weather conditions are not very harsh in Chicago, walking might be a good exercise for us. I decided to park my car to this location but it was not an easy decision. I will come to that point later.
I checked the traffic estimation last time at 5 pm and I decided to go there by car because the estimation was just 48 minutes. The journey was very smooth until Chicago downtown. I missed a junction and found myself in Chicago underground car road. Until today, I was not aware of underground car roads in downtown. There are many express roads just under the normal roads so it allows you to avoid junction, so the traffic. However, since there are other roads above the surface my phone could not locate GPS signal properly. It was totally like a maze and I had to use my gut feeling to find my way. Traffic was flowing superfast comparing to ground level so you would have like to stay there as much as possible but there were long queues in the exits so you had to pick the one with extra care. I took the exit at Harrison and I think it was the best decision. Though, I did a mistake at the end. I had to turn right and I did not take the right lane on time so I had to squeeze to the queue with a shame. After this extra adventure, we arrived at the car park at 6:05 pm which is not bad for the first time.
I said above that car park decision was not easy. After I booked the car parked, it warned me several times about printing out the details. The comment on the ticket was: "You must have a printout of your receipt to park at this location.". Unfortunately, I do not have a printer and I had also thought that display on a smartphone should be alright in the digital age. However; I could not stop myself to think about Ryanair business model. Once upon a time, RyanAir was selling promotion tickets but they asked passengers to print out their boarding passes at home. Passengers who forgot to print their tickets had to pay unbelievable amounts of money in order to get their boarding passes. Let me give you an example: You might buy a ticket for $50 but you might pay $250 for the boarding pass at the airport. Just pay or miss the flight so the hotel reservations and other plans as well. This business model worked for RyanAir very well for a long period of time thanks to not so careful(!) passengers who do not know how to run a business effectively(!).
I thought that this car park owner might choose a similar business model so I might end up to pay $250 extra for the car park. Read my next blog about the car park exit story. Let’s talk about Cavs game now.
My seat is at 3rd tier diagonal to the court (see original seat view below). It is not the best place to watch the game but the price was economic. It is not the cheapest seat but cheaper than the most seats. There is another factor as well which decided me to go to this section. Chicago Bulls sell empty seats in last 2 hours to season ticket holders with season ticket price tag. That means that I would easily upgrade my seat on special occasions. Chicago Bulls is not the best team right now so it would not be so hard to find a place. And, I was right and I did it in this game (see upgraded ticket view below). The view was not perfect but slightly better than our seat. At least; it should be better. I did not pay $60 for a worse place. Images are below so you decide.
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| Original seat view |
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| Upgraded seat view |
I checked my original seat as well and introduced myself to next seat season ticket holder. He did not believe me at the beginning because I was not there during the first 6 games. I explained to him the promotion which allows to skipping the first 6 games. He told me that he did not hear such a thing before and he looks like a long period of time season ticket holder. I did my best but I guess I could not convince him. Anyway, we exchanged the numbers and I left the section.
After the regular ceremony and the national anthem, the game had started. Cavaliers started the game better than Bulls. JR Smith scored 2 consecutive 3 pointers but did not do well later on. He could score 3 more points until the end of the game. Lebron James was mostly silent during the first quarter but took more responsibility later on. Cavaliers scored most of the points by mid-range shots and 3-pointers. On the other hand, Bulls were very active in the backcourt. Gibson played like a man of the match and he scored 18 points out of 59. Lopez contributed with 6 points during the first half. Cavaliers lead the game mostly during the first half but Bulls took the lead a couple of minutes before the end of the half time. First half had resulted with 60-59 lead by Cavaliers.
Bulls started the 3rd quarter better than Cavaliers. As I mentioned in my previous post, Cavs could not rest very well after Clippers game. Their performance dropped slightly and Bulls took the lead and manage the game very well until the end of the game. It is very hard to pick somebody from Chicago Bulls as a man of the match because they all played very well as a team. Rondo performed a triple-double effort with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists. Wade, Butler, and Gibson played very well as well though Gibson finished the game with 23 points so made 5 extra points during the second half.
It was easy for the Bulls to win against tired Cavs team so this game is not a good indicator for the playoff time. However, we all know the ambition of Wade so we should expect the unexpected. It is hard to evaluate Cavs in this game but Lebron could not get enough support from his teammates during the game. JR should score more than 9 points. Love and Irving played below their level as well. Lebron scored 27 points and assistant 13 times to his teammates and Cavs could not win. This is not a good indicator for the Cavs.
Chicago will play against Dallas on Saturday evening at Dallas. I expect them to win the game easily. Then, they will play against Portland Trailblazers on Monday. I did not watch any Portland game this year but I enjoy to watch Damien Lillard. It is hard to make a prediction but due to home court advantage, I would like to say that Bulls will win the game but it won't be easy so a loss would not surprise me at all. I am looking forward to watching Lillard, McCollum, and Plumlee.
There were a lot of other activities as well. The special occasion was the birthday of Benny the Bull (the mascot of the Chicago Bulls). Other mascots of Chicago professional sporting teams came to the game to celebrate him. They enjoyed a lot during the breaks.
And also, we witnessed to a wager between Wade and James. This season Chicago and Cleveland baseball teams played against each other for the championship. It looks like Wade and Lebron made a wager about it so Lebron wore a Chicago Cubs jersey before the game and walked through the press with gigglings of Wade. Click for details
At the end, I left the arena happily after defeating the last champion and headed to the car park.
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