The air conditioning inside the AT&T Center in San Antonio stopped working early in the second quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, and it had an impact on the game.
Not only were fans constantly fanning themselves to keep cool, but players were tiring out quicker than they normally would.
LeBron James and Chris Bosh both asked out of the game five minutes into the third quarter, which is much earlier than usual. They could be seen holding ice bags on their necks to cool down while on the bench.
“I’m going to need some cold water now. They’re trying to smoke us out of here,” James was heard saying via ESPN Wired.
“It’s like playing in my old high school gym,” Miami forward Chris Bosh told ABC’s Doris Burke during an interview. “There’s no air movement.”
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst tweeted late in the third quarter that the temperature inside the building at the time was 89 degress. Yeah, that’s pretty hot.
The Spurs later explained that an electrical outage was responsible for the air conditioning problem and that they were working to fix the issue.
Photo via Andrew Luck’s Head
