Suns to host Nuggets outdoors

[FArting]

Suns to host Nuggets outdoors

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 19, 2008 12:01 AM
The Suns hold claim to staging the NBA's first outdoor game but it will not be by virtue of today's announcement that they are playing Denver in an outdoor preseason game Oct. 11 in Indian Wells, Calif.

Phoenix made that history in 1972 when it played the league's only other outdoor games ever in Puerto Rico. Considering one game was in a baseball stadium with fans behind chain-link fences and one was in a covered arena with no side walls to keep birds off the court, this is the first modern try at outdoor basketball.

The game will be played at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, which has the look of a roof-less NBA arena because it is only 8 years old and boasts loge seating and 44 suites. It is a 16,100-seat stadium that is the Pacific Life Open home.

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TNT will broadcast the night game exclusively.

Tickets, priced at $10 to $100, will go on sale Saturday at 11 a.m. on ticketmaster.com and at Ticketmaster outlets. The drive takes four hours from Phoenix.

Suns part-owner Dick Heckmann, a Palm Springs area resident, will make the announcement today in Indian Wells with team President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Welts.

The Suns did site visits last summer, lying a basketball court on the tennis surface. Phoenix will bring a court, scoreboard and video boards.

It was initially believed that it would be the NBA's first outdoor game but Phoenix played Milwaukee outdoors in San Juan and Ponce, Puerto Rico, in 1972. A Suns team with Connie Hawkins, Dick Van Arsdale and Neal Walk beat Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's and Oscar Robertson's Bucks twice.

Free throws


• Suns center Shaquille O'Neal returned from Louisiana for Sunday and Monday workouts with Suns athletic trainers and coaches.

"He's been working real hard," said Vinny Del Negro, the Suns assistant general manager. "He's motivated. If he feels good, there is no question the mind-set is to get him out there Wednesday (vs. the Lakers)."


• The Suns have to fill their vacant 13th roster spot by Friday. Today, they are working out wing players Linton Johnson, Bobby Jones, Ronald Dupree and Carlos Powell. They are also considering a trade, such as a second-round pick for a low-salary player, before Thursday's trade deadline or waiting to see if any player buyouts occur.

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