• Playoffs.Clippers run over Doncic's Mavericks

As Luka Doncic prepares to shoot two free throws, Clippers fans make gestures and fuss behind the basket to try and distract him. The Mavs clap or shout cheers. There are also those who take the opportunity to go to the fridge, because no one is in the pavilion. Today the playoffs live from the virtual stands that the NBA has placed in the Disney World bubble.

Each competition has faced in its own way the void that the pandemic has left in the stands. Some have left them naked, others have covered the seats with messages printed on canvas, and some have filled them with graphics more typical of a nineties video game, with colored dots simulating tiny heads and T-shirts. The NBA has created a virtual grandstand that allows fans around the world to watch the game from home and appear in the arena cheering.

The mechanics are identical to those group video calls by Zoom that have spread with the pandemic. The fan stands in front of a webcam and shares a session with people from all over the world who will sit in the same sector: each stand is divided into sectors of about five meters with five rows and capacity for 33 people . Thanks to Microsoft Teams technology, the platform automatically cuts out the fan's silhouette and places him in a virtual seat that is projected inside the pavilion.

The first screenshot is strange, but familiar situations from a stand are soon recognized. In this game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Clippers, with Doncic's latest display still fresh, some fans take their seats chanting the Slovenian's name. Some boast a 'maverick' pedigree with a Nowitzki T-shirt, or a Texan with a cowboy hat. There are also those who want to attract attention. There's the one with the Mexican hat. Lauren Gibbs , bobsleigh athlete who boasts an Olympic medal ... And there is Adam, who has no complexes. She has stood without a shirt and sticking out biceps. Adam looks like something out of a college basketball game. The water polo cap is missing and some letters painted on the chest. In a time out, Adam proposes that the entire sector remove their shirts. Adam pretends to lick his virtual seatmates, no matter the gender. Adam receives a tip. Adam will no longer propose anything more daring than doing the wave.

The hymn sounds and, according to the times, there are those who put their knees on the ground, those who show a 'Black Lives Matter' shirt and those who listen in silence. Of course, differences with more respect than what is seen on social networks. Also the times that run make half shout at Kristaps Porzingis (down due to injury) when the camera focuses on him with his nose outside the mask and there is a strange silence when "Corona's dead time" is announced. It takes a few seconds until they realize that 'Corona' is the beer brand and not the bug.

Rotating sectors

The platform allows you to choose between watching the television signal next to the screens of the teammates in their halls, as if it were a video call, or watching it on a split screen: in one half the match signal and in the other, the projection of the stand with everyone in their seat. This is how complicities are born: five thousand kilometers collide, baskets and blocks are held, expulsions are requested and plays are discussed.

The sectors of the stands rotate around the stadium so that everyone can go out in different camera shots. Behind each basket or on the side. Seats are also rotated: Adam, Evan or Lada give the place to other people who have at home to live that experience. "Hears! We came out in the repetition of Leonard's block to Marjanovic that they are putting everywhere ».

In a season that could leave losses of more than $ 1 billion , the NBA has sought formulas to scrape the bottom of the plate. It comes with the sponsorship of Michelob beer, which offers free tickets to fans around the world. Stephen Curry , Peyton Manning or Scottie Pippen have appeared in the audience in some games . In this one, a dog. It wasn't always going to be so lucky.

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