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10. Delta Center
Salt Lake City is a town that feels like a foreign enclave in the middle of the United States to most NBA players and the Delta Center is their palace.
They are notoriously tough, which suits longtime Jazz coach Jerry Sloan.
When Stockton and Malone reigned, a win in Utah was a grueling and almost futile procedure. It remains one of the most difficult arenas in the NBA even with both Hall of Famers retired.
9. Oakland Arena
The Warriors have struggled for a decade now, but they continue to draw well and throughout all these lottery years, Golden State has always had a disproportionate home record.
Oakland does not become an Atlanta or New Orleans when things are bad. They like good basketball and love the Warriors and are unusually loyal and supportive of their players, no matter what their record is, causing players like Jason Richardson and Baron Davis to put on one of the best show’s in the NBA.
8. FleetCenter
Bostonians might be considered obnoxious sports fans by some, but there is no denying their passion. In recent seasons, the Red Sox and Patriots have enjoyed great success, while the Celtics haven’t been experience the glory of the parquet during the Bird, McHale and Parish years. All those banners in the rafters become more and more foreign with each passing season, but in certain pockets, there are glimpses of a return to those days and the Boston fans attempt to will it back.
Boston fans will do anything to help their teams win because it is simultaneously a love and a war, and all is fair.
7. SBC Center
In the 2004-2005 season, the Spurs were 38-3 at the SBC Center, making the Spurs the most difficult team in the NBA to defeat on the road.
The Spurs are one of the NBA’s most professional organizations and it has spread to their fan base. It is almost impossible to imagine situations which have occurred in Detroit happening in San Antonio, but yet Spurs’ fans are as vocal as any other teams’ fans.
The loyalty factor in San Antonio is also unmistakable. Nearly any game you attend will see a collection of fans supporting the opposing team scattered around the arena, but at the SBC Center, it is rare to ever see Lakers’ purple or Rockets’ red.
6. United Center
Chicago Stadium was one of the NBA’s most difficult where the fans were hovering above the floor, and while the United Center is a bigger venue, fans work twice as hard to contribute to the game.
In a decade of existence, the United Center has seen three NBA Finals, so Chicago fans are well accustomed to big games and just as Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen always delivered, even on Sundays, so does the United Center faithful.
5. KeyArena
During basketball season, there is very little for people in Seattle to do outside, so they rally around their Sonics.
On game days, visiting clubs spend most of the afternoon in their hotel rooms looking out their rain slicked windows and when they get to KeyArena, they are welcomed by 17,000 fans who also spent the whole days indoors and are now ready to drink and cheer on their team.
4. Pepsi Center
The elevation is what makes Denver such a tough place for any team in any sport to pick up a road win. Even during their weakest seasons, the Nuggets have always done well at home.
With the thin air, opposing teams are usually too exhausted to even care about the crowd’s noise, but they are there and they are loud.
3. The Palace
Attacks from fans can occur anywhere, so those factors do not apply here. What makes this such a tough venue to play in is the way the Detroit crowd feeds off the Pistons’ defense. When they are swarming and forcing turnovers, the crowd grows louder and louder, and they become the classic sixth man.
2. Wachovia Center
Philadelphia fans will never be silent. If they love you, they will let you know. If they hate you, they will let you know. There is zero reluctance to boo anybody at anytime, even their own players, but they appreciate blue collar efforts unlike any other town.
They are knowledgeable about basketball and they want winners, but anticipate losing, which gives this venue its romanticism.
1. Arco Arena
The Kings are the only professional franchise in Sacramento, so for each of the 41 games per season, a city’s attention is on basketball.
With the Maloof’s courtside at one of the NBA’s more compact arena’s, where the fans are practically on top of the hardwood, the reverberations of the cowbells are deafening.
All fans are hostile towards the visiting team, but in Sacramento it is nearly a personal hostility and it is the complete opposite with their own players, it is a purely loyal love affair, giving the Kings the best home court advantage in the NBA.
source: http://realgm.com/src_feature/89/20050501/the_nbas_most_difficult_arenas/
