Royalty Tours USA

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Royalty w/o 11/5 in review

Prince in Section 230 at Barclays Center
Monday morning I woke up early so I could return the Crown Victoria I rented from Avis for the weekend. I wound up driving 1,134 miles safely over the two days I had the car.

I went to work afterwards tired and all. I survived the day and after work I took the subway to downtown Brooklyn where the new Barclays Center is located. It's the home of the Brooklyn Nets who moved from New Jersey. On this night, the Nets were hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves. It should be noted that they were missing two of their key players, Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio who were inactive due to injuries.

Even though I saw the Barclays Center during the preseason, this was my first official visit if you will. It was my 58th NBA arena which includes all the current ones.

Before I went inside I stopped off a Subway restaurant for my pre game dinner. It was conveniently located in the Atlantic Center Mall which is right across the street from the arena. When I finished I proceeded to go into the building to see some NBA basketball.

When I got to my seat in section 230, I met up with the King and our pal Vincent Ascanio who was also there.

As for the game we saw, it started well for the new team in town. The Nets got off to a fast start as they lead by four, 31-27 after the first quarter. They extended their lead to 15 at halftime, 62-47. They lead by as much as 22 along the way. After three quarters, they lead, 86-75. In the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves finally awoke. Did they ever, they stormed back and they blew past the Nets as they dominated down the stretch making one shot after another. The Timberwolves outscored the Nets, 32-10 over the last twelve minutes to come away with an improbable 107-96 victory.

The Timberwolves rallied without their two star players. They got a game high 21 points from center Nikola Pekovic. In addition, forward Chase Budinger came off the bench and he added 16 many of which came during their late surge as they stunned the Nets. In the losing effort, Deron Williams had 18 points to go along with 13 assists.

Tuesday night after work I went out for dinner with my Aunt Joan and Uncle Mort who were in Manhattan for the day. We went to Ben's Deli. We had some good food and we got to catch up at the same time. It was really nice to see them again. I want to personally thank them for meeting me.

Wednesday night after work I went home to relax as it was snowing believe it or not. If Hurricane Sandy didn't do enough damage, we got a Noreaster on top of it which produced some wet and slushy snow.
Thursday night after work the snow disappeared thanks to some warmer weather. As a result, I was able to do my laundry when I got home.

Friday night after work I went to Charley's Subs for dinner in Penn Station. When I was done, I went upstairs to Madison Square Garden. I saw the undefeated Knicks take on the visiting Dallas Mavericks who were playing without their superstars Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion.

As for the game I saw at the Transformed Garden, the Knicks and Mavericks battled it out. The Knicks lead by two after the first quarter, 25-23. In the second quarter, the Mavericks went ahead as they lead at halftime, 57-55. In the third quarter, the Knicks started to take over the game as they took the lead at 84-78 after three quarters. In the fourth quarter, the Knicks maintained their lead as they beat the Mavericks, 104-94 to stay unbeaten at 4-0 on the young season. Once again, Carmelo Anthony led the way for the Knicks as he scored a game high 31 points while teammate J.R. Smith added 22. For the Mavericks, O.J. Mayo paced them with 23 points.

Stay tuned for some special posts that I'm going to do that will recap my latest getaway weekend from NYC.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman













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