Unlike the majority of NBA markets, the Houston Rockets are allowing a limited number of in-arena fans to begin the 2020-21 season at Toyota Center. With between 3,000 and 3,500 fans per game, the fans are spread out and subject to a variety of rigorous safety protocols.
That’s nothing close to the arena’s usual capacity of more than 18,000 fans, of course. But it’s also far more than zero, which is what’s occuring in many arenas due to restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before Monday’s home game versus Dallas, Silas was asked what the presence of games with fans has felt like. Here’s how he replied:
We feel it. We feel the Rockets’ fans.
It’s very different than it used to be with a packed house, obviously. But it’s starkly different from an empty arena. It’s hard to play in an empty arena, and it’s hard to get yourself up. You hear the squeaks, and you hear the ball, and all that.
When you have people, and energy, kind of filling the arena as much as possible — even though it’s just a limited amount of people — it helps. It really does help. We feel it, and we’re appreciative for the people who come to the games. Because it’s not an easy thing. There’s obviously places where you’re not even allowed to come to games. So we’re very appreciative to the people who do come. We feel it, we feel their energy, and it’s good for the guys. They feed off of it.
Entering Monday, Houston was 2-0 in its home games with fans, and 0-2 in empty arenas on the road. Fortunately for the Rockets, seven of the team’s initial 10 regular-season games are at Toyota Center.
