Brrr... Outdoor Basketball

The Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets met in a preseason game on Saturday night in Indian Wells, CA, near Palm Springs.

While Indian Wells isn't your typical NBA destination anyway, the game had another twist: it was played outdoors.

ESPN's Marc Stein recaps the action in Denver's 77-72 victory over the Suns, an uncharacteristically low scoring game for the two squads.

The reason? It was chilly. Well, sorta.

The temperature dropped to a frigid 64 degrees, or, as Marc Stein says, "all the way down to 64 degrees." Brrrr...

I mean, I understand that when you sweat, that's gotta be a bit chilly, but 64 degrees is hardly "cold." Stein does say that the wind was "gusting" at 15 MPH, so perhaps I should lay off and give them the benefit of the doubt.

Still, knowing the countless street ballers play through the "elements" of wind, rain, cold, and much more difficult rims and chain nets to shoot on than what the NBA players had to "suffer" through on Saturday night, you've got to ask, how spoiled are these guys? And, how would they fare against the street scene's best? It's a fair question.

That said, I think it's a fun concept, but one that ought not transfer into the regular season. Watching NBA teams battle it out in different venues, different countries, and through different elements is great, but when the games start counting, all teams need to be on equal footing.

Plus, Shaq's free throws are miserable enough that I don't wanna have to watch him try to shoot it through the wind. (O'neal was 0 for 2 from the line).

Shaq wasn't the only one. Neither team shot over 36% from the field, and the teams combined to make just 3 of 27 three-point attempts. And actually, it was Denver whose free throw shooting suffered, sinking just 18 of 38 attempts.

Like I said, cool concept, but I'd rather watch more exciting basketball than a 77-72 brick-fest.