The Five Best NBA Crowds in the Last 25 Years

In an extremely unscientific poll*, we at the Fanhouse have kind of, sort of, come up with a list of the five loudest fan bases in the league over the last 25 years. All this debate has been spurred by the complete and utter chaos that has engulfed Golden State in this year's playoffs. The very loose criteria for this elite list: although one game could be the standard bearer for an era/time period, we were mostly looking for fans that could bring the noise over a few years. Here are our findings, in no particular order:

The 1980s Lakers: When the Magic Show took the stage, there was nothing like it. Magic on the break feeding James Worthy or Byron Scott for the dunk was beautiful basketball, and the fans responded. Take a gander at some of those 1980s tapes and the Forum was always at a fever pitch.

Jordan's 1990s Bulls teams: If you're looking for one singular moment where you probably couldn't hear yourself, it may have been that night in the NBA Finals when Jordan hit for 35 in the first half against the Blazers. After one three-pointer, he looked over to Marv Albert (we can only assume), gave the shoulder shrug as if to ask, 'I don't know why I can't miss.' Bedlam.

Sacramento Kings vs. the Lakers: Shaq calling the Kings the 'Queens.' Kobe's food poisoning. The cow bells. Mike Bibby's clutchness. Vlade Divac. From about 2000-2002, this was the premiere rivalry in the NBA. Arco was a madhouse.

The Garden during Bird's prime: The Memorial Day Massacre is one of the first games that comes to mind (Boston 148, Lakers 114). Basically, anytime Bird did anything spectacular (which was often), the place would erupt in pandemonium. As a Laker fan in this era, some of these memories are just too strong to dredge up.

Madison Square Garden during Ewing's late years with the Knicks: Larry Johnson's four-point play and John Starks' facial on the Bulls are two of the finest moments in NBA playoff history, and when the Garden is rockin', it's a beautiful thing.

* Basically, we talked about this on email and came to this conclusion.