Air Conditioner Flub Steals Show in NBA Finals

Not having an air conditioner can make your job and daily life. Need expert opinion to confirm this? Ask LeBron James, Tim Duncan, or any of their teammates on the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs, respectively. In Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Heat and Spurs, a different kind of heat stole the show as the air conditioning system at the AT&T Center in muggy San Antonio, Texas went out midgame. On a night that should have been about world-class basketball, the players’ difficulties coping with abnormally high game temperatures stole the show.

Indoor temperatures at the opener of NBA’s showcase event reportedly rose into the low nineties, resulting in a miserably hot atmosphere for the tens of thousands of fans packed in the arena. The speakers played songs like Nelly’s “Hot in Here” and Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” as the teams battled fatigue and dehydration in the conditions.

Most players made it through the game, although both teams frequently substituted players in and out of the game to keep fresh bodies on the court. The Spurs’ longtime star Tim Duncan, who grew up in the balmy U.S. Virgin Islands, remarked, “I don’t think I’ve ever played in anything like this since I left the Islands.” Duncan’s All-Star teammate, French native Tony Parker, was dismissive. “Me personally, it didn’t bother me. Felt like I was playing in Europe. We never have AC in Europe so it didn’t bother me at all.” Heat All-Star Dwayne Wade had a similar take—“If you’ve played basketball, you’ve played where it’s hot like this.”

Some players took the heat harder than others. The game, a 110-95 Spurs victory, will be most remembered for Miami Heat superstar LeBron James’ late-game breakdown in the sweltering AT&T Center. James, widely considered to be the NBA’s premier active player, suffered severe cramps which rendered movement difficult in his entire left side, and had to sit out most of the fourth quarter of what had been an extremely closely contested game. Without their transcendent superstar, who bears much of the team’s offensive and defensive burden, the Heat looked lost in the heat, and were promptly blown out. James attempted to come back to the game at one point in the fourth quarter, and scored a clutch basket to keep the Heat close. However, James was unable to run back down the court on defense as his left side had tightened up again. James signaled to the Heat bench and was quickly substituted back out.

Controversy has swirled in the blogosphere over whether James failed his team or was simply a victim of the conditions. One thing is clear—if the health of LeBron James, one of the world’s elite athletes, can suffer from prolonged exposure to hot indoor temperatures, imagine the risks the rest of us would be taking if we didn’t have air conditioning this summer! AC World has all your air conditioner needs covered.