BOSTON — The Golden State Warriors arrived at the TD Garden for Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday to find that the basket they were shooting at in warmups was the wrong height.
A 10-foot wooden pole was brought in to measure, and it confirmed that the basket was a couple of inches too high. It was quickly adjusted.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said during his pregame media availability that he wasn’t aware of the issue, but it wasn’t uncommon.
“Players have a really sharp eye for that. Players can tell,” he said. “I imagine somebody went out there, looked at it, didn’t look right. So as long as they take care of it, then everything is good.”
Kerr then took the opportunity to needle the league for the finals' late start times. All weekday games have tipped off after 9 p.m. ET, with the Sunday games an hour earlier.
“It’s a good thing the game starts at midnight,” Kerr said as reporters laughed. “We’ll have plenty of time to fix it.”
The teams split the two games in San Francisco before the best-of-seven series shifted to Boston, where the 17-time NBA champion Celtics have a history of success — and, some say, shenanigans. Former Celtics coach, general manager and president Red Auerbach was often accused of everything from turning off the hot water in the visitor's locker room at the original Boston Garden to engineering dead spots in the parquet floor.
Hall of Famer Bill Walton, who was a member of the Celtics' 1986 championship team, said he didn't think there was anything untoward going on.
“I'm surprised Steve didn't say anything about Red Auerbach,” he said.
