Cairns Taipans vs Sydney Kings: Chaotic scenes as basketball match is completed WITHOUT a shot clock or air con as ‘power issue’ sees former Opals star Alice Kunek feel the heat in sweltering conditions
- Cairns Taipans' match with Sydney Kings was characterized by chaos
- The game of basketball was affected by power issues
- They had to play without a shot clock and air conditioning
There were chaotic scenes in the NBL on Thursday night when a 'power issue' forced players to complete a match without a shot clock or air conditioning in sweltering conditions.
Cairns' match against reigning champions the Kings was halted for almost an hour after an apparent power failure at the Cairns Convention Center just before the start of the second half.
Crews worked frantically to resolve the issue, but as the delay continued, the teams entered into a gentleman's agreement to play without a shot clock and act accordingly within the “spirit of the game.”
The power problem also meant that the teams had to play out the match in scorching humidity. Former Opals star and ESPN commentator Alice Kunek was visibly sweating as she reported from the sidelines.
“We've had a lot of power challenges tonight,” NBL CEO Dave Stevenson said during the postponement.
“It looks like a circuit breaker is broken, so they're working on that.
“We actually have a little innovative model, we're going to try to put a camera on a laptop screen that gives us a shot clock and a timer and get that on the big scoreboard.
'Then at least the players know how much time is left.'
More to follow.
