“Beat the Heat!” had a whole new meaning for both fans and players inside San Antonio’s AT&T Center on Thursday night. After the air conditioning system malfunctioned inside the +18,000 capacity venue, temperatures rose above 90 degrees late in the game causing a major momentum shift in favor of the Spurs.
The most obvious casualty for the heat was Miami’s LeBron James, who suffered leg cramps throughout the game. LeBron could be overheard saying, “they’re trying to smoke us out of here,” from the sidelines during the third quarter. Eventually, the 10x NBA All-Star would have to be helped off the court by his teammates and trainers after his right thigh locked up near the basket midway thru the fourth.
“[The heat] was significant. It was definitely a factor,” San Antonio’s Tim Duncan told ABC postgame. “I don’t know about what happened to LeBron, but all of us feeling the heat were dehydrated.”
While the game was pretty much neck and neck midway thru the fourth, after LeBron was sidelined the Spurs caught fire. A Danny Green three pointer gave the Spurs a five point lead that inevitably stretched out to 15 points by the final buzzer. Even though LeBron led the Heat scoring with 25 points, his teammates would be outscored 16-3 in the final minutes of the game with their superstar on the sidelines. As a result, the Miami Heat fell to the San Antonio Spurs in Game One 110-95.
“It felt like a punch to the gut when you see your leader limping to the bench like that,” said Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich agreed that the heat played a factor for both teams. “Yeah, it was probably tough on both teams. Players were pretty dead.”
Either way Dwayne Wade told reporters, “We had opportunities.”
As for the conspiracy theorist out there, members of the Miami Heat organization do not believe the a/c malfunction was planned.
“That would take an incredible mind to try to plan that,” said Spoelstra. Miami’s Shane Battier dispelled any rumors of foul play saying, “I don’t think Pop turns off the a/c and they practice in a Native American sweat lodge. He is innovative. I don’t think he is that innovative.”
LeBron would go on to say that, “You know, at the end of the day, it’s no discredit for what they did. They played extremely well.”
Now both teams get to face off for Game 2 at AT&T Center on Sunday at 7PM (CST). Hopefully this time maintenance can get the a/c running.
