As you could have guessed, there are more than a few people who believe the air conditioning malfunction that took place at the AT&T Center during Game 1 of the NBA Finals was not an accident. Brooklyn Nets guard Jason Terry is one of them.
Terry, who used to play for the Dallas Mavericks and has faced the San Antonio Spurs a number of times throughout his career, says a piping hot arena is vintage Gregg Popovich.
“You know what, Pop has done that so many times,” Terry told ESPN Dallas 103.3 on Friday. “I don’t know if it’s a conspiracy, but I’m telling you, going into San Antonio is a tough place to play.
“And I can remember very well one time where it was cold showers, there were about a thousand flies in the locker room. This year, there was a snake in the locker room. So, they’re going to pull out all the stops to get into your head. When you go to San Antonio, expect something like that. And Miami fell victim to it.”
Terry has a point to an extent. Bizarre things do tend to happen during Spurs home games, like that time Manu Ginobili swatted a bat out of mid-air. But intentionally creating an environment where temperatures climb above 90 degrees? That doesn’t seem safe for either team.
Still, Terry said he recalls times when he was playing for the Mavs and he felt the Spurs were trying to sweat the visitors out.
“Oh, no question,” he said. “For an event of that magnitude, to say that the AT&T Center’s air-conditioning is not working — there’s definitely something wrong with that.”
If you ask Popovich, he’ll just tell you the Spurs need to pay their bills. Fortunately, the air conditioning has been repaired and should be in working order for Game 2 on Sunday night.
