CHRIS Cantada is a very lucky fan.
It’s hard enough to score a ticket to the “virtual fans” arena inside the NBA restart. It’s hard enough to see a down-to-the-wire game in a team that’s been struggling in the bubble. It’s hard enough to get a “front row” view of a buzzer beater shot that ended a three-game losing streak for the Lakers.
On all three counts, though, the YouTube content creator — known for his Power Rangers skits, as well as being the former drummer of rock band Spongecola — beat the odds and witnessed a live game for the ages.
“I knew something magical was going to happen,” he said. “It was a perfect first game for me to watch.”

Thanks to a friend who worked in the Asia Pacific office of the NBA, Cantada was able to score a seat in the Lakers-Nuggets match-up two days ago.
In the virtual fans setup, a partnership between the pro league and software giant Microsoft, select fans are given special invites to a Microsoft Teams meeting room. These fans form the “audience” inside the bubble, their faces blown up on giant LED screens arranged courtside — a familiar sight for anyone who’s been following the restart games.
That’s how we see it from our streams or TV screens. How does it look like for a virtual fan?
Virtual fans who make the cut get sent an invite to a Microsoft Teams meeting room. But even then, it’s not sure if you’ll be accepted inside the room. So even at the last minute, Cantada was worried that he wouldn’t be able to join.
Once inside, “the screen is split into two,” Cantada described. “Us fans, here on one side, and the feed [of] the game is on the other side. The game is like smartphone sized, [depending] on how big your laptop screen is, but it’s small.”
He also revealed that the Teams meeting room you’re assigned in doesn’t have every person inside the virtual arena — just the fans who are “seated” in the same section as you.
His section, as it turned out, was in the big digital screen right behind the Nuggets bench.
Though he was excited for this once-in-a-lifetime chance (hey, even a live game in a Microsoft Teams meeting room is still a live game), Cantada wasn’t expecting much. The Lakers, sluggish so far in Orlando, were coming off three straight losses.
Still, Cantada came dressed for the part.
“I geeked out all the way,” he said. “I was wearing a LeBron jersey that I recently bought from NBA Store Philippines. I was wearing my NBA socks, and then I was wearing my LeBron 17 Titans.”

And then, miracles happened.
With a little over mere seconds left on the clock and the score tied at 121, LeBron James snapped the ball to Anthony Davis, who tossed it over to Kyle Kuzma waiting in the wings. Kuz threw up a Hail Mary from the far side of the Nuggets bench, burying a buzzer-beating three pointer that gave the Lakers the win.
On the digital screen visible in the buzzer beater replays, Cantada exploded in cheers. (The five second network delay, however, probably didn't get it in time for the live stream.)
Recalling the game two days later, he said, “In so many levels, I was so happy. I was so happy to get accepted into the Teams meeting. I was so happy that I got my LeBron jersey the night before. I was so happy that, in the last quarter, they featured the fans [in the livestream], and I [saw myself during the game]. And the last one, I was so happy I got to be a part of that Kuzma last shot. Obviously, I had nothing to do with that shot, but I was there.”
Cantada is more known for his love for the Power Rangers and Marvel superheroes than his love for hoops. Admittedly, he said that he only began following the NBA during quarantine.
Like many nineties kids, he used to follow the Bulls when he was younger, but soon his interests shifted into music and geek fandoms as he grew older.

But when he began watching The Last Dance at the start of quarantine, his childhood love for basketball was rekindled. He threw himself into his new fandom with enthusiasm.
“I can compare it to how I was seven years ago when I fell in love with the Power Rangers. But instead of toys and colorful spandex, it's Jordan shoes and basketball,” he said. Former bandmate Yael Yuzon (who, unlike Cantada, never relapsed in his basketball fandom) has also been helping him with his hoops re-education crash course.

Cantada is looking forward to the playoffs now, though he still retains that pragmatic view of the Lakers.
“I hope they get in the zone again,” Cantada said.
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