The oh-so rare NBA rain delay forced the Indiana Pacers and New Orleans Pelicans to reschedule Wednesday night’s game.
If you’re wondering where the Post-Game Grades are for last night’s Pacers-Pelicans game are, you’re going to be waiting awhile. The Smoothie King Center in New Orleans sprung a leak around 7:20 p.m. on Wednesday, leading to the eventual postponement of the game.
No replay date has been scheduled.
According to the Indianapolis Star’s Clifton Brown, the two teams didn’t feel comfortable with the situation as there were concerns the water might become an issue again before the game’s end.
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"“Both coaches went out and looked at the floor, looked at the conditions, and didn’t want to take a chance, “ said McMillan. “With the possibility of a leak happening in a 2 ½ hour game, in an area where there was going to be a lot of action, right around the free-throw line. They got the GMs, and I’m sure they got the owners involved. The conditions were not ready for these guys to play.”McMillan said he was given no indication when the game would be rescheduled.“The guys didn’t want to play this game under those conditions,” McMillan said. “I though the first 30 minutes, guys were thinking we were going to play. After that 30 minutes, 45 minutes into it, you started hearing there was a good chance it was going to be cancelled. Then guys lost focus. We would’ve probably been a mess if we had gone out there anyway.“All it takes is one spot for a player to slip on. Mentally, guys really wouldn’t have been able to go out there and play, knowing that situation.”"
It’s understandable as both teams are dealing with injuries this season in games played under dry conditions. One play could send a player to the training room and immediately make everyone question why they were out there in the first place.
As odd as a rain delay sounds for an NBA game, coach Nate McMillan said this wasn’t the first time he dealt with this sort of situation.
Since there was time to kill, jokes were made.
We’ll have to wait and see if the game is rescheduled, but hopefully, the floor stays drier next time.
The Pacers have been involved in postponed or canceled games in the past for various reasons. In 1978, Indiana had two games postponed. Bad weather forced a game against the Cavaliers on January 24 to be pushed back until March, but the Pacers won 127-104.
A week later their game against the Celtics had to be moved to Springfield, MA because of the collapse of the Hartford Civic Center roof. The game was still played that day, and the Pacers lost 104-94.
In 1993, a Pacers-Knicks game was delayed a day thanks to a blizzard, but that didn’t help the Pacers as they lost 121-90.
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In 2013, the Boston Marathon bombings canceled the Celtics-Pacers game scheduled that day. With both teams locked into their playoff seeding at that point, the NBA didn’t reschedule the game.