One week after a leak in the roof at the Smoothie King Center, home of the New Orleans Pelicans, caused the NBA to postpone the Pacers game, a make-up date has been set.
The Pacers will make another trip down to New Orleans and face the Pelicans on Wednesday, March 21 at 8:00 pm ET. And so, the matchup will ultimately be played six weeks after it was originally scheduled.
“We’ve been in constant contact with the league,” Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard said earlier this week. “The problem is anywhere you put it is bad for them or really bad for us. We don’t want that. We know it was an accident.”
Instead of having a three-game homestand over seven days, the Pacers (33-25) won’t have three days between games against the Lakers (Mar. 19) and Clippers (Mar. 23), and will now fly down to The Big Easy.
In doing so, the Pacers will have 15 games in March – as many as they played in the months of November, December and January.
For the 31-26 Pelicans, it means they will be the only team in the NBA with three games in three nights. All of them are at home at least, but it’s part of a five-game homestand to be played over six days. Ouch.
During the rain delay, which nearly reached two hours, Pacers head coach Nate McMillan spent time watching film while getting updates of the wet spot on the hardwood due to the leak. Thad Young knew immediately that the game wouldn’t be played so he changed out of his game uniform. Most of the guys simply watched other NBA games in the locker room.
[Top photo via @CountryWP33]