Crews worked for two hours to dry the court on a day when the Windy City recorded its warmest high temperature of the month.
An unseasonably warm, rainy day may have contributed to unplayable conditions at Thursday night's Chicago Bulls vs. Miami Heat game that ended up getting postponed after two hours of attempts to dry the court.
Workers used mops and towels as the moisture saturated the court at Chicago's United Center, which is also home to the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks, who had a home game Wednesday. After two hours, the game was officially postponed due to "court conditions."
It happened on an unseasonably warm day when temperatures rose as high as 60 degrees, the warmest temperature in Chicago so far this month and well above the city's average high of 32 degrees for Jan. 8. The city also received 1.92 inches of rain on Thursday.
The game was officially postponed at 8:53 p.m., prompting boos from the crowd. A rescheduled date for the game was not immediately announced, although the Bulls said tickets from Thursday would be honored.
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The Bulls entered at 17-20 and on a three-game losing streak. The contest was supposed to be the second in a four-game trip for the Heat (20-17).
Referee Sean Wright told a pool reporter that players first informed him of the slippery court during warmups. Despite efforts by the United Center staff — including shuffling across the floor with thick towels on their feet — “we just couldn’t guarantee a safe on-court experience,” Wright said.
“At 9:13 on the warm-up clock, some Miami players came and said the court was real slippery and at the same time some Bulls players came over as well,” Wright said. “So, I checked the court conditions and then I immediately got on the horn and notified the (NBA) Replay Center what was going on.”
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The decision to delay the start of the game wasn't announced on the United Center public address system until tipoff.
“We tried to work together to see if we could fix the problem," Wright said. ”We had ongoing talks and tried some different stuff on the court, and nothing seemed to work."
Both teams realized the conditions were too risky.
“We always want to try to go,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “The players were complaining about it on both sides. So pretty much indeed we felt that it wasn't playable.
“We have that in our practice facility and when there's condensation it takes about 15 minutes for it to change. So we weren't too optimistic it was going to change.”
Spoelstra added players could feel the slipperiness in pregame warmups.
“By the time I got out there, all the players were complaining,” he said.
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Bulls guard Tre Jones told reporters that players kept awaiting a final word.
“They were just telling us, that pretty much, they were gonna keep waiting,” Jones said. “It was like 15-minute segments and every 15 minutes would go by and they're just like trying to continue to work on it to make sure we had a safe playing field, but just couldn't get it figured out.”
Jones, who was in the starting lineup on his 26th birthday, said he could feel the slipperiness.
“I think as more people got in the gym and everything it just got warmer," he said. "So I think it continued to get a little bit worse, a little more slippery.”
About 40 minutes after the expected 7:05 p.m. tipoff time, an announcement was made that the expected start time would be after 8 p.m. local time.
Maintenance personnel pushed large mops across the court while players from both teams milled about dribbling, shooting and chatting at the start of the delay. At about 7:50 p.m., players and coaches returned to their dressing rooms and the floor was cleared to allow workers to attempt to dry the surface using mops and towels.
Game officials, then Heat players and coaches, started returning to the floor at 8:25 p.m. Bulls coaches and a handful of Chicago players led by Coby White followed minutes later and filtered about. Bulls head coach Billy Donovan and Miami's Spoelstra were among those chatting.
The teams then exited the court at 8:45 p.m. without attempting to warm up.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Category: General Sports
