Denver defeats Phoenix in rare outdoor NBA game

The NHL has had a lot of success in the past couple of years with their special “outdoor games”.  Last year, over 70,000 fans jammed Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson Stadium to watch the Sabres play Sydney Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins on a picture perfect winter day punctuated by the occasional snow flurry.  Fans, players and league officials alike enthusiastically branded the event a success and the only question it raised is why the league didn’t play outdoors more often.

With that big crowd and the overall positive vibe generated by the event, it’s not surprising that other indoor sports leagues would want to give playing outdoors a try.  The NBA did just that on Saturday night and something was lost in translation.  The Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets met in a preseason game at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, CA near Palm Springs.  Between some offensive struggles and absent superstars including Alan Iverson, Amare Stoudemire and Carmello Anthony the novelty of playing outside quickly wore off for the fans and it became just another pointless NBA preseason game for the 16,236 fans in attendance.

Both teams struggled with their outside shooting and free throws—understandable since NBA players don’t deal with cross winds very often.  While the weather was clear as the game wore on the desert temperatures cooled into the low 60s.  With both teams laying more bricks than a journeyman mason, Denver eventually prevailed 77-72.  Suns pointguard Steve tried to put a positive spin on the event:

"If you shoot a ball and it starts slicing right, well ...But that's not really the point of the game, to shoot a high percentage. The point was to come out here and see what it is like to go up and down outside and put NBA players in this situation."

Denver coach George Karl ran down a laundry list of the problems caused by playing outside, but didn’t dismiss the experiment out of hand:

"The players said they couldn't sweat, the ball was slippery and the wind, I think, was a factor in the poor shooting and the poor free throw shooting. But I'm glad we did it. It's an experience. We might want to start the game at 5 o'clock maybe instead of 7."

No further outdoor NBA games are scheduled.  The NHL, meanwhile, will likely produce another incredible fan experience with their next outdoor game—a contest between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings on New Years’ Day 2009.  The game is almost a “can’t miss” due to its Wrigley Field venue and will represent the 701st time the Blackhawks and Red Wings have met—the most of any two teams in NHL history.