Los Angeles Lakers vs. Charlotte Hornets

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Some nights the opponent is not the point and nobody in the building pretends otherwise. A Tuesday in the middle of November against a club with no history here is the cheapest good seat of the entire season, and the people who turn up are almost entirely locals who wanted to watch basketball rather than visitors who wanted to see a landmark. That makes for a quieter and far more knowledgeable room. You can hear the floor - the squeak, the calls, the actual conversation between players that the broadcast microphones flatten into nothing. If you have only ever been to the marquee nights, come to one of these and find out what the sport sounds like when the occasion is not doing any of the work. Sit lower than you would normally justify, because for once you can. The other advantage of a night nobody wants is that you can move around. Nobody polices an upper-bowl ticket in a half-full building after the first quarter, and everybody who goes regularly already knows it.