Oracle is seeped in magic, and it needs every last bit of it Thursday night

Unlike most of the written pieces, you will see in the leadup to Game 6 of the NBA Finals, what will be the final game ever played at Oracle Arena, I can’t tell you that I spent much time during my childhood there.

I spent a lot of time at the Oakland Coliseum because it was always much cheaper and easier to swing with my dad’s work schedule and my school schedule.

I only went to four games ever at Oracle, and three of them were this year (including the final regular season game). Although I remember seeing the Globetrotters there a couple of times as well in the late 2000s.

But I lived close enough to the arena – 15 minutes away – that I could always feel the magic exude from the walls, from the concourse. The Roar of the crowd never felt too far away. Even watching the moments from my couch in Alameda, it was special knowing how close I was to something so great.

I was close enough to see and hear the fireworks in June 2015 when they won their first title in 40 years. I was close enough to feel how important this team, that arena, those moments were to the city of Oakland.

And there we so. Many. Moments. Good and bad, for the Warriors and others, there may not be another stadium still standing that has housed so many captivating moments.

Rick Barry’s 64 in ‘74. The 15-point comeback over the Bulls in Game 7 of the 1975 WCF to clinch a Finals berth. Sleepy Floyd’s 51 in the 1987 WCS, the only 50-point playoff game ever against the Lakers. Run TMC and their ahead-of-its-time offense. Charles Barkley’s 56-point game in 1994. Vince’s 2000 dunk contest. The greatest upset in NBA postseason history in 2007. Klay’s 37-point quarter. A 73-win season. The single-season three-point record. Two consecutive 3-1 comebacks, both ending on Oracle’s floor in Game 7, one ending in Cleveland’s only NBA title, the only such comeback in Finals history. The only 60-point game ever by a player in under 30 minutes. The close of one of the most dominant postseason ever in 2017. LeBron’s 51-point Finals game in 2018. A 31-point comeback by the Clippers in game two.

Years and years and YEARS of Kareem, Magic, MJ, Chuck, Tim Duncan, Kobe, Shaq, Steve Nash, LeBron, Kevin Durant and the Warriors front office terrorizing the team, the town.

And then? Stephen Curry. Joe Lacob. Klay Thompson. Draymond Green. Taking a team that had been to one postseason in 18 years and has taken them to five Finals in a row.

And now, seven years into one of the most magical runs in NBA history, The Core Four, surrounded by the carcass of an unbeatable roster, barely hanging on by the flesh, need a little more to close out a place seeped in it.

One last 30-foot Steph heat check. One last Klay game-6 show. One more third-quarter avalanche. One more visceral Draymond scream. One last Roar. One last postgame celebration in the concourse.

Even on its worst day, Oracle is magic. And Thursday night – which certainly won’t be its worst night – will see magic one last time, whether that means the Warriors staving off elimination one last time, or the Raptors taking home their first championship.

A fitting end to a legendary building.