The Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls were supposed to play a significant game on Thursday, but the United Center floor was too dangerous to play on. The court had visible moisture, which led to the staff trying to dry the court with mops and towels.
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra pointed out that the players were complaining because they felt it could be dangerous. A slippery floor could lead to players getting injured, so the NBA opted to postpone the game. This happened in the NBA before because some teams share their arenas with their city's NHL teams.
Powell admits he was baffled by the unique situation
Powell is now an NBA veteran with 11 seasons under his belt. However, this was the first time he encountered a court being too dangerous to play on. Considering the NBA has plenty of teams sharing an arena with their NHL counterparts, this is still a rare occurrence.
This happened twice in the past decade, when the Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves were postponed back in 2017. Before that, the Sacramento Kings and Philadelphia 76ers also had a postponed game due to the same reason: moisture on the court.
The Heat and Bulls were ready to play the game, but some players felt the court was too moist and slippery. Of course, that raised a lot of red flags for the coaching staff, front office, and the NBA itself. It took a long time to dry the court, but the NBA opted to postpone the game to a later date.
It is a rare occurrence, but it was best to postpone the game because the players would have been in danger. Powell was surprised by what happened, but it appears to be the right decision.
"I mean, it’s crazy. Honestly, this is the first time I’ve ever had to deal with that in 11 seasons, which is kind of crazy. Yeah, it’s kind of tough. I mean, after the first like 30 minutes, I think you start to kind of like, ‘All right, what are we doing?’ Then another, you hear him say another 20 minutes and then it’s like, ‘All right,’ like, you really don’t want to play, and it’s hard to get refocused," Powell said to the Heat media after the postponement.
The game will be rescheduled to a later date, but the Heat will move forward with their schedule. They play against the Indiana Pacers on a back-to-back during the weekend. On the other side, the Bulls will be playing against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday.
More NBA News:
- Tyler Herro gets honest about the 'young and fun' Miami Heat this season
- Heat make questioning move on Terry Rozier despite legal issues
- Heat's Tyler Herro made NBA 3-point history 1 game faster than Steph Curry
- Erik Spoelstra expresses disappointment in the Miami Heat's lack of effort
- NBA trade rumors: Ranking 9 most likely stars to be traded, from Giannis Antetokounmpo to Anthony Davis