Hottest basketball arenas

[skangles]

By hottest, I assume you mean excited or cheerful? Certainly no NBA arena can compete with that. But singing, chanting and waving flags is a hallmark of European sporting culture (in general, at least). You see this sort of thing in other sports in Europe as well, so this is more of a cultural difference between the US and Europe. Our fans are just more reserved than Europe or other parts of the world. By NBA standards, the Lakers, especially during the playoffs, have the hottest stadium and wildest fans. Duke University in the US is notorious for having a hot arena, probably the craziest in the US.

Agreed with you on Duke, they don't call them the Cameron Crazies for nothing.

The NBA cannot compete with Europe in terms of a hostile environment, although this past season Andrew Bogut bought 100 tickets at the Bradley Center for each Bucks home game and gave them away to the fans. The only requirement was that they would make noise throughout the game, which led to a dynamic environment. Nevertheless, 100 screaming fans cannot compare to the thousands in European arenas.

The best NBA crowd I can recall were the fans in Oakland during the 2007 playoff series with the Mavs. I'll never forget that sea of gold.



Zalgiris vs. Lietuvos Rytas was the craziest environment I have ever experienced in person.