CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- NASCAR drivers John Andretti and Dale Jarrett were there. So was NFL running back Marshall Faulk and John Fox, the new coach of the Carolina Panthers.

Just about everyone else in Charlotte stayed home, though.

Even though the NBA's days in Charlotte are numbered and the season is on the line, fans didn't change their mind about the Hornets in Thursday night's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New Jersey Nets.

About 7,000 fans were in their seats at tipoff, creating cavernous sections in The Hive that have been a symbol of the Hornets all season.

"It's so disheartening that it has come to this," said Paul Silas, in his fourth season as Charlotte's coach. "When I first came here, it was sort of going down a little bit, but it was still an exciting place to be. ... To see it fall off the end of the earth, it leaves you feeling empty."

Just like the Charlotte Coliseum.

It was the Hornets' bad luck to have a must-win game -- they trailed the Nets 2-0 in the best-of-seven series -- fall the day before the NBA's owners scheduled vote on Charlotte's relocation request. The vote is expected to be a formality and the moving vans could head to New Orleans as soon as the season officially ends.

The finality of it all did little to bring out the masses. The regulars -- including the guy who has waved a brick under the basket during free throws in each of the Hornets' 14 seasons -- were here.

And Andretti and Jarrett, enjoying a rare week off from racing, came out to see one last game. Faulk, well, no one knew why he came. But when he called for tickets, the Hornets could hardly say no.

But judging by the crowd at tipoff, they were the only new faces.

For seven years, the Hornets led the league in attendance. Through the leanest of times, when the Hornets almost never won, The Hive was always alive.

The fans gave the team a standing ovation following a 40-point loss in their first ever game and a parade through the city at the end of that long season.

But fans grew weary of owner George Shinn allowing top players to leave via free agency, and when he was sued in a civil trial on a sexual assault charge, they tuned out permanently.

In financial trouble, he sold a share of the team to Atlanta businessman Ray Wooldridge, a man who quickly rubbed the remaining fans the wrong way with his demands for a new arena and refusal to use any team money to build it.

City leaders refused to help with a new arena without letting the voters decide. The citizens of Charlotte adamantly refused last June and the wheels were put in motion for a move to another city.

Still, the die-hards remained. They pasted cardboard over the "Go Hornets Go" sign to change it to "Stay Hornets Stay!" before Game 3.

They made T-shirts blasting ownership and waved signs imploring the team to stay.

But there weren't enough, and everyone knew it.

"I want the Hornets to stay. I've been coming to games since I was 1 years old," said 11-year-old Jessica Crenshaw of Rock Hill, S.C.

"But no one comes to the games, no one loves basketball here. So I guess they'll go even though I don't want them to."

Doug Potenski arrived at 4:30, over two hours before tipoff, so he could stand near the players' entrance and ask the Hornets to sign some of his memorabilia.

By his estimate, he attends only 12 games a year. But he's got two young sons at home and when they're older, Potenski wants them to have something to remember the old Charlotte Hornets.

"I don't think it's fair to the fans who have been loyal through all this," Potenski said. "This is a political thing between the mayor and the owners of this team and it's the basketball fans of Charlotte who will suffer come the end of the season."