The Spurs break the record for spectators in an NBA game against the Warriors with 68,323 people

The San Antonio Spurs, who celebrate their 50th anniversary this season, made history this Friday with a new attendance record for an NBA game by gathering 68,323 spectators in their crushing defeat against the Golden State Warriors (113-144).

San Antonio surpassed at the Alamodome, the home of the Spurs between 1993 and 2002, the 1998 mark at the Georgia Dome in a game between the Atlanta Hawks and Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls, which was attended by 62,046 spectators.

Only the 2010 All-Star meeting exceeds the mark set by the Spurs, with 108,713 people.

The Spurs arrived at the Alamo in 1973. This season they began by honoring Argentine Manu Ginóbili, one of the members of the legendary "Big Three" along with Tim Duncan and Frenchman Tony Parker and who in 2022 entered the Basketball Hall of Fame.

As part of the anniversary activities, the Spurs played a game in Mexico City in December and will face the Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves in Austin in April.

Founded in 1967 under the name of the Dallas Chaparrals, the San Antonio Spurs today were also the Texas Chaparrals between 1970 and 1971. In 1973 they began to be called the Spurs in the ABA league and in 1976 they debuted as an NBA franchise.

To commemorate their half century of life, the five-time NBA champions (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014) organized parties before and after this game, including fireworks.

With a great atmosphere in the stadium (the fans cheered despite the fact that their team lost by 39 points in the fourth quarter), this historic match was attended by Spurs icons such as David Robinson (he announced to the present that the attendance record had been broken), Parker or Ginóbili.

“More than 68,000 people!

Spurs fans, you are the best!

Congratulations to everyone who made this possible!"

+68k people in the building!

Spurs fans, you are something else!

Congrats to everybody that made this happen!

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 https://t.co/e62MDukwUV

— Manu Ginobili (@manuginobili) January 14, 2023

Gregg Popovich, the eternal coach of San Antonio, also faced on the benches an illustrious disciple of his like Steve Kerr, coach of the Warriors and who played for the Spurs in two stages (1998-2001 and 2002-2003).

The night was not entirely sweet for the Spurs as the Warriors passed over them.

Both teams came into this match after losing three games in a row.

Jordan Poole was the best of the visitors with 25 points and Donte DiVincenzo contributed 22 goals.

Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins each added 16 points and Stephen Curry had 15. Neither Golden State starter played 30 minutes as the game was settled in the third quarter.

For the locals, Tre Jones added 21 points and Keldon Johnson got 17. Popovich called his first timeout 3 minutes into the game (4-10) and, seeing that his pupils did not react, he had to stop the game for second time two minutes later (4-17).

However, the Spurs woke up and managed to reach the end of the first quarter only 5 points down (28-33).

Screens at the Alamodome showed Ginobili watching the game, and Spurs fans cheered regardless of the score.

DiVincenzo, coming off the bench, was the Warriors' top scorer at halftime with 12 points (60-74).

While the locals had only hit 2 triples out of 7 attempts in the first half and insisted from the paint, the visitors hit 9 triples out of 23 attempts.

An explosive start to the third quarter by Thompson and Draymond Green, with Poole finishing off the last minutes of the segment, brought the score to a resounding 89-114 (29-40 in that period) that left the duel seen for judgment before a final quarter. with nothing at stake.

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