SAN FRANCISCO—Bay Area basketball fans were in for a treat this past weekend when the Santa Cruz Warriors came surfing into The City for its annual game at the Chase Center–home of the Golden State Warriors.
San Bruno resident Kevin Centinaje and his family got the chance to watch the Sea Dubs in action along with a little more than 10,000 people.
“We’re just happy to be here,” he said. “Big fans of just the Warriors organization.”
Centinaje said they’ve been to a couple of Golden State Warriors regular season and playoff games, but it was their first game as a family to watch the Sea Dubs.
He said mostly because it’s difficult for them to drive more than an hour south to watch them play at Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz.
“To come and see them at their annual game here at the Chase [Center] is great,” he said.
Centinaje enjoyed the various STEM booths that were set up and of course the free giveaways, including the “Captain Klay” bobblehead of Klay Thompson wearing a captain sailing hat while carrying the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy on a boat.
Centinaje is with the California International Guard 129th Rescue Wing and he is a community partner with Moffett Federal Airfield. The community relations team for the Golden State Warriors invited his family to support Santa Cruz.
Ary Ghanadan of the East Bay got to spend time with his mother watching the game from section 125. He said it’s always a fun environment at the Chase Center and they enjoyed making the trek across the Bay Bridge.
“We love the Dubs,” he said. “A lot of these players end up coming up to the [NBA], so it’s cool to see what talent there is out there. I’m sure a couple of these guys are going to get bumped up.”
Santa Cruz Warriors guard Lester Quiñones–who recently signed a 10-day contract with Golden State–said it was great to see the support from the crowd. He was also grateful for being able to suit up as opposed to cheering for teammates from the sidelines.
It was also his first time back at the Chase Center since playing in the NBA Summer League.
“I was a little bit surprised to see more faces than I expected,” he said. “I didn’t expect us to really fill it out this much. But it was great for me to kind of be out there, just like I said, be on that other end. Feeling how the crowd is when I hit a shot or how the crowd is when a big play happens.”
