What it looked like Wednesday: Braves vs. Warriors at the Cow Palace

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

When the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Golden State Warriors to win the NBA Championship in Oakland’s Oracle Arena a few weeks ago, the scene looked every bit the part that modern sports fans would expect of the multi-billion-dollar NBA of 2016.

Buffalo News archives

Buffalo News archives

When the Buffalo Braves traveled to the Bay Area to play the San Francisco Warriors in 1970, the home court at the Cow Palace—built as an agriculture and livestock pavilion—was lit, in part, by Liberace-looking chandeliers.

The photo shows Mike Silliman of the Braves trying to drive past the Warriors’ Joe Ellis as future Hall of Famers Nate Thurmond and Jerry Lucas look on. The Warriors beat the expansion Braves 123-108 under the light of that candelabra fixture.

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Steve Cichon

Steve Cichon writes about Buffalo’s pop culture history. His stories of Buffalo's past have appeared more than 1600 times in The Buffalo News. He's a proud Buffalonian helping the world experience the city he loves. Since the earliest days of the internet, Cichon's been creating content celebrating the people, places, and ideas that make Buffalo unique and special. The 25-year veteran of Buffalo radio and television has written five books and curates The Buffalo Stories Archives-- hundreds of thousands of books, images, and audio/visual media which tell the stories of who we are in Western New York.