Midway through the 2005-06 season, I watched LeBron James drop 51 points on the Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena and was a little surprised by the reaction of the crowd, which cheered him late in the game and saluted him a mostly-standing ovation when he left the court.
At the time, this was a critical loss for the Jazz, who were fighting to stay in a playoff race they would end up barely losing. That's why I was surprised, I suppose, because home crowds never used to embrace opposing players -- even great ones.
Karl Malone and John Stockton were Public Enemy No. 1 and No. 1-A during their days with the Jazz.
Once, the Jazz's bus had to take an atypical, round-about route from the team's hotel in Chicago to the United Center -- with a cop aboard and a squad car following -- because of a threat made against Malone.
In Utah, I never heard of any blatant threats, although that's no guarantee than none was ever made. But Jazz fans never had much use for Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson or Hakeem Olajuwon. They respected the tremendous ability and competitiveness of those type of players, but to openly cheer for them?
I don't recall it ever happening.
Times change, however.
In today's NBA, mega-stars like Kobe Bryant and James drive the league with sensational performances that have opposing fans cheering and chanting their names.
This week, Bryant scored 61 points against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, where chants of "M-V-P" replaced the echoes of that long-ago chorus "Beat L.A."
Somewhere, Willis Reed must have been shaking his head.
Two nights later, James followed Kobe into the Garden and was equally as mesmerizing. He finished with 52 points and nearly finished with a triple-double.
Again, the Knick fans cheered like James was one of their own, which might happen when he opts-out of his contact in 2010, but is not the case now.
Understandably -- at least to me -- the Knicks players and coaches were slightly taken back by their fans' reaction to the performances by Bryant and James.
"One of these days," coach Mike D'Antoni said, "it's going to get to the point where it's going to be about us. It's not going to be about them. It's not going to be about who's coming in. ...
"Our job is to make the Knicks so good that they'll be cheering us and they won't care who comes in here because we're the best people on the floor."
I like D'Antoni.
He is a coach who worked his way up through the ranks and had a wonderful run in Phoenix, where I don't think he ever got enough credit for making the Suns into a legitimate contender.
With D'Antoni in charge, I believe better days are ahead of the Knicks, even if Kobe and LeBron keep hearing cheers in Madison Square Garden ... even if Knick fanatic Spike Lee now hangs out with opposing superstars instead of having them rub his nose in heartbeaking defeat by repeatedly flashing a choke sign in his direction, like an angry Reggie Miller did during the 1995 playoffs.
luhm@sltrib.com
