- 11,629
- 62
Sat
Oct 11
Sunny / Wind
79°
52°
10%
79°F
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[/h1] [h1]Suns and Nuggets prepare for first outdoor game in modern NBA history[/h1]
51 minutes ago
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - Phoenix Suns coach Terry Porter said all his team and the Denver Nuggets have to do to prepare for the first outdoor game in modern NBA history is to revert to when they first picked up a basketball.
"You just go back to your childhood days of playing outside, taking in the wind consideration for the jump shots in the corner," the first-year coach joked as his team began a shootaround Friday on a makeshift court at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. "It's a good thing they don't have any chain nets."
The Suns had their first look Friday at the court set up at the facility, which annually hosts world-class men's and women's tennis tournaments in the spring. The exhibition nature of Saturday's game was evident as the Suns took the court, with team owner Robert Sarver and assistant coach Dan Majerle knocking tennis balls from baseline to baseline while Suns guard Raja Bell used another tennis ball to shoot jump shots.
With the moon hanging over the 16,000-seat tennis facility, the players and coaches had their first experience with the wind that swirled around the court.
The breezes for the game are expected to be stronger on the floor of the desert just outside of Palm Springs, but no one knows for sure how much the wind will impact play. The wind Friday was whipping through concourses throughout the Tennis Garden instead of simply flowing over the top of the grandstands and away from the sunken court.
"I didn't have any idea what to expect as far as this being in a tennis arena," Porter said. "But they got it in here. I was impressed they got the court in."
Suns guard and Victoria native Steve Nash said the wind would be too great of a variable for the NBA to hold a regular season game outdoors, but that the tennis court should work for a nationally televised exhibition game.
"This game is really about putting on a good show for the fans and giving them something they have never seen before," Nash said.
TNT, home of exclusive Thursday night NBA doubleheaders throughout the regular season, announced today that NBA legends Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller,alongside veteran play-by-play announcer Marv Albert, will serve as game-side announcers for the "AutoTrader.com Open" outdoor preseason game onSat., Oct. 11 featuring the Phoenix Suns vs. the Denver Nuggets from the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, CA. The landmark game, the first everoutdoor NBA match-up to be played in the U.S., will be televised exclusively on TNT and marks the first time that the three basketball icons have been teamedtogether for a national broadcast.
TNT's coverage begins at 10 p.m. ET with a pregame show hosted by TNT NBA Insider David Aldridge along with Barkley and Miller. Game coverage followsthe tip-off show which will be called by Barkley, Miller and Albert, with reporting by TNT's Cheryl Miller. Aldridge, Barkley and Miller will also appearon the game halftime show.
The 2008-09 NBA season marks Turner Broadcasting's 25th year of NBA coverage. The network will tip off the new season on Tues., Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. ETbeginning with the NBA Tip-Off '08 presented by Autotrader.com preview show, followed by an exclusive doubleheader starting at 8 p.m. ET featuring theCleveland Cavaliers @ the Boston Celtics and the Portland Trail Blazers @ L.A. Lakers at 10:30 p.m. ET.
[h1]
[/h1]
Oct 11
Sunny / Wind
79°
52°
10%
[h1]
[/h1] [h1]
[/h1] [h1]Suns and Nuggets prepare for first outdoor game in modern NBA history[/h1]
51 minutes ago
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - Phoenix Suns coach Terry Porter said all his team and the Denver Nuggets have to do to prepare for the first outdoor game in modern NBA history is to revert to when they first picked up a basketball.
"You just go back to your childhood days of playing outside, taking in the wind consideration for the jump shots in the corner," the first-year coach joked as his team began a shootaround Friday on a makeshift court at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. "It's a good thing they don't have any chain nets."
The Suns had their first look Friday at the court set up at the facility, which annually hosts world-class men's and women's tennis tournaments in the spring. The exhibition nature of Saturday's game was evident as the Suns took the court, with team owner Robert Sarver and assistant coach Dan Majerle knocking tennis balls from baseline to baseline while Suns guard Raja Bell used another tennis ball to shoot jump shots.
With the moon hanging over the 16,000-seat tennis facility, the players and coaches had their first experience with the wind that swirled around the court.
The breezes for the game are expected to be stronger on the floor of the desert just outside of Palm Springs, but no one knows for sure how much the wind will impact play. The wind Friday was whipping through concourses throughout the Tennis Garden instead of simply flowing over the top of the grandstands and away from the sunken court.
"I didn't have any idea what to expect as far as this being in a tennis arena," Porter said. "But they got it in here. I was impressed they got the court in."
Suns guard and Victoria native Steve Nash said the wind would be too great of a variable for the NBA to hold a regular season game outdoors, but that the tennis court should work for a nationally televised exhibition game.
"This game is really about putting on a good show for the fans and giving them something they have never seen before," Nash said.
TNT, home of exclusive Thursday night NBA doubleheaders throughout the regular season, announced today that NBA legends Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller,alongside veteran play-by-play announcer Marv Albert, will serve as game-side announcers for the "AutoTrader.com Open" outdoor preseason game onSat., Oct. 11 featuring the Phoenix Suns vs. the Denver Nuggets from the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, CA. The landmark game, the first everoutdoor NBA match-up to be played in the U.S., will be televised exclusively on TNT and marks the first time that the three basketball icons have been teamedtogether for a national broadcast.
TNT's coverage begins at 10 p.m. ET with a pregame show hosted by TNT NBA Insider David Aldridge along with Barkley and Miller. Game coverage followsthe tip-off show which will be called by Barkley, Miller and Albert, with reporting by TNT's Cheryl Miller. Aldridge, Barkley and Miller will also appearon the game halftime show.
The 2008-09 NBA season marks Turner Broadcasting's 25th year of NBA coverage. The network will tip off the new season on Tues., Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. ETbeginning with the NBA Tip-Off '08 presented by Autotrader.com preview show, followed by an exclusive doubleheader starting at 8 p.m. ET featuring theCleveland Cavaliers @ the Boston Celtics and the Portland Trail Blazers @ L.A. Lakers at 10:30 p.m. ET.
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