Rising Stars game at San Francisco's Chase Center brings family full circle at NBA All-Star Weekend
The Bay Area's NBA All-Star Weekend officially tipped off with a pair of games Friday night on both sides of the bay.
The Celebrity Game was played at the Oakland Arena and while the Rising Stars dazzled at San Francisco's Chase Center.
It was the first NBA All-Star festivities in the Bay Area in 25 years with the last All-Star Weekend held at the formerly-named Oracle Arena.
"Me and [my father] came back in 2000 when it was at Oracle," said Golden State Warriors fan Adam Scheiner. "So, it's kind of cool to come full circle."
Basketball has run through the Scheiner family for generations. It started with Scheiner's grandpa and now it's being passed down to his son Maxwell.
"Been Warriors fans since we've seen Run TMC play, seen not-so-good basketball throughout the years," said Scheiner. "We Believe" was like the best. Then we get Steph, Klay and Dre, and the rest of the Warriors the last ten years have been special, too."
The Scheiner family has soaked in all of the All-Star events.
"It's fun to see the city come back to life," said Jenna Scheiner.
The highlight so far has been to watch their favorite player, Warriors 2nd-year guard Brandin Podziemski, in the Rising Stars Challenge.
"This is exciting," she said. "We are big Podz fans in our family.
This experience isn't quite the same for Adam, though. He feels the atmosphere is a little different than at "Roar-acle" Arena.
"I'm not going to lie, I miss Oracle," he said. "This is like corporate and Oracle was real fans, you know what I mean? It's still fun. We come to many games but it's not Oracle."
And the atmosphere is not the only difference. For fans coming to see some of the young stars from around the league at the Chase Center - instead of the much-pricier All-Star game itself - the experience still came at a steep price.
"The beer I had was $20," he said. "I was like, wow, I can get a 30-pack for that."
Tickets to the Rising Stars competition also came with a big price tag, but not like Saturday's Slam Dunk Contest and nothing like Sunday's main event, which be may be more than what an average fan can afford. For Sunday's All-Star contest, which is debuting a new tournament format, the cheapest ticket in Chase Center's upper bowl starts at about $900. Courtside seats are roughly $57,000 each.
"We weren't planning on coming tomorrow and Sunday because the tickets were absolutely outrageous to start," he added. "But as days and weeks have gone, they've gotten a lot cheaper."
But for this family, they wanted to experience as much of this weekend as they can. It was a fond memory for Adam when he went with his dad 25 years ago and the family hopes it will be something that sticks with Maxwell for years to come.
"Special moments," said Adam's father Steven Scheiner. "That's what we live for."
