Lunar New Year is a big deal in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it’s also a big deal with the Golden State Warriors. I couldn’t make the celebration night last year, but did back in 2022. This is the Year of the Dragon, and this year’s celebration was another fantastic night at the Chase Center with the Warriors playing the Clippers. There were some nice giveaways to the first 10,000 fans in attendance: a Lunar New Year Bucket Hat, courtesy of Cache Creek Casino Resort:
During one of the time outs or breaks, the Warriors played this video on the big screen with the players guessing what zodiac signs some of the players were based on the characteristics of the zodiac:
Stephen Curry was fittingly born in the Year of the Dragon, just like San Francisco born Bruce Lee!
During a break/timeout, there was a balancing act performance by Pei Pei which was pretty cool:
During another break, the Warriors were giving away a Golden State Warriors colored stuff dragon:
Courtesy of the Warriors, I was able to get both the hat and the dragon!
At halftime, there were two dance troupes that performed on the basketball court: Xiaopei Chinese Dance (Dublin, CA) and Zhiping Shi Dance (Milpitas, CA), performing classical Chinese dance as well as traditional ballet.
I was able to capture video from the basketball court floor view as well as on the big screen.
From the floor:
From the big screen:
After the performance, I was able to do a brief interview both tance studio directors, Xiaopei He Gelb of Xiaopei Chinese Dance (Dublin, CA) and Zhiping Shi of Zhiping Shi Dance (Milpitas, CA):
The game itself was pretty fun to watch, as the Warriors were up against the Clippers until I think the 4th quarter by double digits, when the team had a meltdown and wound up losing the game 130 to 125.
Stephen Curry obviously was not happy with the results at the press conference, which I was fortunate enough to attend:
A Chinese language press person did ask Stephen Curry about the game being on Valentine’s Day and the relationship between him and his wife – that got a laugh from him and the press attendees. I should have asked Curry how he would be celebrating Lunar New Year. All the other sports reporters asked pretty game oriented questions.
All and all, a great time at the Chase Center to celebrate the Lunar New Year and watch a pretty exciting game with the Warriors. Too bad that they lost!
