Before each game the Spurs played at HemisFair Arena, the team's public-address announcer would begin the festivities by telling fans they were in the "Noisiest Arena in the NBA."

It was an accurate boast, New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said.

"There was no place like the HemisFair," Van Gundy said. "That place was on every night. There was never a time where you came in there and that place was low energy. It was fun and the fans were right on top of you. It was just a great atmosphere."

When the Spurs moved into the Alamodome before the 1993-94 season, they continued to claim they had the NBA's loudest venue. But the cavernous building lacked the intimacy of HemisFair Arena, and many league observers considered the boast to be nothing more than empty propaganda.

Then came the 1999 playoffs.