Cold Weather and Wind Gusts Make the NBA's Outdoor Game an Ugly One to Watch

Fans were plenty excited about the concept of the NBA playing a pre-season game outdoors (even if they couldn't necessarily explain why), but cool temperatures and wind gusts of up to 15 mph in the fourth quarter made last night's game between the Nuggets and the Suns a brutal contest to watch.

The game ended up as a 77-72 Nuggets victory, and with a final score that low, you can be assured that there are some gawdawful statistics to go along with it. The teams combined to miss 24 of their 27 three-point attempts. The Nuggets alone made just 18 of their 38 free throw attempts. And both teams finished the evening with field goal percentages in the 30s. Steve Nash didn't think that the low shooting was something to foocus on though.

"That really wasn't the point of the game, to shoot a high percentage. The point was to come out here and see what it's like to go up and down outside and put NBA players in this situation."

Well, we saw, and it wasn't pretty. Besides the wind having an affect on the teams' shooting, the players' comfort level was pretty low too. With the temperature dropping as low as 64 degrees, and accompanied by a steady breeze blowing, I'm sure most would agree with Shaq's assertion that "it was colder than a motherf***** out there."

It remains to be seen if the NBA will continue to try to work this gimmick; it looks like they'll do it at least one more time next season. Now that the fans have seen what an NBA game played outdoors actually looks like, I wonder if they'll still be as excited for it next time.