California Classic

In May, the Kings sent me a ticket offer for the California Classic. Over the course of three days, Golden 1 Center is hosting four teams [Kings, Warriors, Lakers and Heat] featuring rookies selected in the 2018 NBA Draft, sophomores and athletes competing to make the NBA and G League regular season rosters. On a whim, I bought two tickets for Tuesday night; they were pretty cheap.

Sharon and I decided to make an evening out of it. After work, we headed downtown and checked into the Sawyer Hotel. The hotel opened last year right next to the arena.

After getting cleaned up, we went down for a drink in the bar at Echo & Rig. You could literally throw a baseball from there and hit the arena! We had an early dinner in the restaurant. I had Sea Bass a la Plancha [wild, crispy skin, watercress & olive oil dipping sauce], while Sharon had a Rib-Eye [Creekstone All Natural], We split a baked potato and brussels sprouts [pistachio & fresh lemon].

We wandered from the restaurant to the Golden 1 Arena. We got to our seats at start of the fourth quarter of the Lakers versus Heat game. The Heat looked very athletic and rolled the Lakers by the score of 89 to 74.

The Kings played the Warriors in the second game of the night. The Kings roster is here. It was an ugly game. The Kings lost by the score of 71 to 54.

Second year player Justin Jackson looked solid. Jackson finished with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting with five rebounds and an assist. Frank Mason III had 16 points, five assists and four rebounds. He started at point guard with De'Aaron Fox (sore left Achilles) sitting out.

Marvin Bagley III and Harry Giles struggled. Bagley shot 3 of 16 and finished with seven points and seven rebounds. Giles shot 2 of 9 and had four points and three rebounds. Neither player had an assist. In spite of their struggles, I am impressed with the athleticism and energy of both players.

After the game, Sharon headed back to the hotel. We wandered through a couple of the bars in hotel before crashing for the night.