Were San Antonio's Air Conditioning Problems Intentional?

[JokersWild24]

Thoughts?

 

I'm going to go with a yes/probably.

[JokersWild24]

Just a side note, strange things that you can probably attribute to a series of mishaps that haven't occurred other places to mind games have been known to occur in San Antonio.

 

Before the Mavericks game this year, a snake was found in the visitor's locker room. Some of the Mavs players didn't go in the locker room while they were getting it out.

 

Jason Terry also talked publicly about a time when his team found the locker room crowded with files there (unsure of the team he was playing with then).

[dolamite]

Wouldn't surprise me if the air was turned off intentionally and Pop had the guys practicing in it for the last four days.

 

Whatever it takes right?

[JokersWild24]

Wouldn't surprise me if the air was turned off intentionally and Pop had the guys practicing in it for the last four days.

 

Whatever it takes right?

 

 

Wouldn't surprise me in the least either, but I'll say that I would think it was more of a way to slow LeBron because of his history of cramping. I will say that San Antonio is the kind of city where if people knew what hotel the Heat were staying in, there'd be people prank calling, driving by with horns blaring, etc.

 

Will disagree with the "whatever it takes" approach if that's what was being taken. That was pretty underhanded and used as a way to potentially injure an athlete, which isn't cool at all. Whether it's Bruce Bowen putting his foot down under shooters or the Spurs putting out Amare's eye and hurting it to the point he has to play with protective googles the rest of his career, I don't think there's any question that the Spurs are a "dirty" team.

[halfback20]

No.

[John Anthony]

They all had to play in it. Just like the theories of teams watering the field, both teams play in it.

[JokersWild24]

They all had to play in it. Just like the theories of teams watering the field, both teams play in it.

 

But when the best player on the floor has an extremely low percentage of body fat and a history of cramping, you can see how it'd be suspicious.

 

I don't think a team watering down the field is exactly on the up and up either. It definitely favors the team who plays more of a smash mouth style and hurts a team with lots of speed or a dangerous passing attack.

 

If the refs said, "we're going to let more go on charges and push offs", and the modifications were applied to both teams evenly, it still doesn't change the fact that it most likely ends up greatly benefiting LeBron and hurting the Spurs.

[jericho]

I'd say most NBA players have low body fat. Poor Lebron, make excuses. Jordan didn't make excuses and neither did Bird.

[JokersWild24]

I'd say most NBA players have low body fat. Poor Lebron, make excuses. Jordan didn't make excuses and neither did Bird.

 

Low body fat, sure, but a guy like DeMarcus Cousins came into the combine with around 3 times as much body fat as LeBron probably has.

 

You see Olympic sprinters and NFL running backs cramping more than you see linemen and baseball players like Prince Fielder cramping up, and that's no coincidence.

 

I think it's one thing if the teams no about the issue in advance of the game, but once the game has started, it's generally too late to give him an IV or have him take in enough fluids so that he won't miss any game action.

 

I can almost guarantee that the commissioners and league officials who were at the game were not happy with what went down. Even if it was all innocent happenstance, it still puts the league in a position that is awkward at best. If it were one of San Antonio's (best) players cramping up, or if this had happened at Miami, it wouldn't be nearly the same issue because there is no motive or incentive for them to do it.

 

Fact is though, cramping is one of the few things that has slowed LeBron throughout his many playoff runs, and the circumstances just oh so happened to fall into place just oh so perfectly for the Spurs.

 

I'm glad Spolestra and Rod Thorn took the high road in interviews after the game, but you could infer that they weren't very happy with the situation. Anytime (at least one of) the best player(s) in the league has to sit out the decisive minutes of such an important game, the fans will feel a little cheated and the win or loss has an asterisk placed by it.

[LIPTON BASH]

First I don't think it was done on purpose. Second if they did is there a rule against it ? Is A/C mandatory ?

[PurplePride92]

I think it was fishy. The entire air went out in the arena? There is more than one AC unit that it would take to cool down a place that big and they all went out? Fishy.

[PurplePride92]

I'd say most NBA players have low body fat. Poor Lebron, make excuses. Jordan didn't make excuses and neither did Bird.

 

Maybe I missed it but I haven't seen or heard Lebron make an excuse.

 

But suppose he did. Who cares. He ain't MJ, Bird, Kobe....don't matter. He's still the best player on the planet right now and will likely go down as one of the top 5 players to play the game.

[rjs4470]

I'd say most NBA players have low body fat. Poor Lebron, make excuses. Jordan didn't make excuses and neither did Bird.

 

All I heard Lebron say was he was disappointed and that his body let him down. Unless you believe he just didn't want to play the last 4 minutes of the game, you can't knock Lebron for having cramps. If you've ever cramped before, you'd understand how painful and impossible how this could knock someone out of the game.

 

That being said, I don't think SA intentionally did something to the AC to possible cause problems for Lebron and the Heat.

[tcjkbt]

If it was intentional, what penalty will the Commish levy? (I don't think it was.)

[JokersWild24]

If it was intentional, what penalty will the Commish levy? (I don't think it was.)

 

 

I would think a (potentially hefty) fine would be the only public punishment. If I'm the Spurs, I'm more worried about the repercussions of the guy who learned his trade under Stern that would go on behind closed doors.

 

 

. He took the PC route on most questions, but did mention something to the effect of it being unfortunate that the game was decided while one of the league's best players was on the sideline (which you'd probably take to mean that the integrity of the game and the league as a whole was called into question). Most telling, however, was his statement that he expected everything to be "perfect" for Game 2. This wouldn't be the first time I've overanalyzed something, but I think of Thorn as a pretty cool and calculated guy who chooses his words carefully, and I wouldn't have batted an eyebrow if he said things would be "normal", but his statement that the league expected things to be "perfect" did make me wonder if he was throwing out an ultimatum publicly as if to warn San Antonio that the league definitely has their eye on them.

 

 

 

I'm going to say that I think that the timing of the whole thing was just a little too convenient. If it happens earlier in the day, then they take precautions with LeBron that they've been taking between games (plenty of hydration, fluids, possibly salt tabs at some point or even an IV).

 

There happens to be an electrical failure that takes out the A/C to a huge building like that, at a time when it would be most disadvantageous to the Heat, and in a way such that it greatly contributed to them missing one of the best players in the league??? Yea, I'm gonna say it's shady, but hey, I think San Antonio is a pretty shady town to begin with anyway.

 

If LeBron doesn't have a history of cramping, then I don't think that this is an issue. If San Antonio doesn't have something of a reputation for weird things happening to visiting teams (snakes in the locker room one night... filled with files another), then I'm not as suspicious. That isn't the case here though and I don't think San Antonio has really done anything to get the benefit of the doubt on something so "accidental" that just swung the series greatly in their favor.