Leaky roof forces Pacers-Pelicans postponement

The scheduled game between the Indiana Pacers and the New Orleans Pelicans was postponed Wednesday night due to concerns about a wet floor inside the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.

A makeup date is to be determined.

A leak in the building's roof allowed rainwater to seep onto the court, and a delay began shortly before the scheduled tipoff. Arena officials raised a catch basin to the roof to catch the incoming water while workers dried the floor with towels.

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A delay of approximately 90 minutes ensued while officials of the two teams and the NBA office discussed options.

Eventually it was announced that the game would not be played Wednesday "out of an abundance of caution."

The coaches agreed with the decision to postpone the contest.

"You want to get this game going, but (it's) a real risk to the players with that floor being wet like that," Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. "Not a chance you want to take. ...

"Both coaches went out and looked at the floor and looked at the conditions and really felt that we didn't want to take a chance at these players going out there playing on the floor.

"They wanted to try to get the game in. We just felt as coaches -- and they got the GMs and I'm sure they got the owners involved -- that the condition is not ready for these guys to play."

Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry added, "I just think they made an evaluation of the situation and just didn't think it was safe enough to play the game. I think it's, obviously, better to be safe than sorry. After looking at several things, I think they came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth risking the players."

--Field Level Media