NBA Summer League Returns to Action At Thomas & Mack Center After Friday’s SoCal Earthquake

By Alan Snel

LVSportsBiz.com

 

It was back to basketball as usual at the NBA Summer League Day 2 Saturday after a 7.1 earthquake 150 miles away in SoCal moved earth in Las Vegas the night before and prompted Summer League officials to suspend the big Pelicans (Zion Williamson)-Knicks (RJ Barrett) game and postpone two other games.

On Saturday, the first game at Thomas & Mack Center ended with the Detroit Pistons defeating the Portland Trail Blazers, 93-73. The 11-day professional basketball extravaganza was back on schedule. Another 17,500 tickets were sold for Day 2, the first time the Summer League has sold out on its first two days in its 15 years in Las Vegas.

“After a thorough survey was completed this morning by two separate independent structural engineers, Thomas & Mack and Cox (Pavilion) have both been deemed safe to open,” the NBA released in a statement.

Rick Lippmann, a local Las Vegas doctor hired to work at the NBA Summer League, agreed with the NBA’s decision to suspend the Pelicans-Knicks contest and scrub two other games last night.

“With everything swinging what would be the outcome if something was to fall? A lot of people freaked out and got out of there. When the earthquake hit, I thought someone was pushing the chairs,” said Lippmann, who sits on a courtside chair ready to evaluate any players.

Fans from around the country now come to the NBA Summer League to spend vacations built around the 83-game roundball extravaganza that has all 30 NBA teams and even the Chinese and Croatian national teams playing hoops at Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion this year.

A mid-afternoon match-up between division rivals Boston and Philadelphia attracted a sizable crowd of NBA fans to Thomas & Mack, including many Celtics fans who enjoyed seeing seven-foot, seven-inch Tacko Fall from Central Florida (UCF) see action.

 

Every time he touched the basketball, the Celtics fans roared with approval. And when he blocked a Philly player’s shot, the fans erupted.

 

In other news, Zion Williamson, the Pelicans’ number one pick and the NBA’s overall number one draft selection, is done for the NBA Summer League after Friday’s debut ended with a bruised knee against the New York Knicks.

 

*

LVSportsBiz.com’s NBA Summer League content is sponsored by: AdoreOil