Despite postponing their game with the Kings, neither the Sixers nor Wells Fargo Center officials (I hate that term for such relatively inconsequential fare) knew what the slick substance on the floor was or the reason it was there. Intrepid reporting from Keith Pompey and Molly Sullivan showed us literally firsthand just how damp things got, but an official explanation for the dampness was never given.

So what was it?

Water, probably.

The word on the street (Broad Street? Sure) is that someone forgot to turn down the AC, and with warmer than expected temperatures and, you know, all that goddamn rain, condensation built up on the court and couldn’t be stopped. Like a cool glass of lemonade on a summer’s day.

Philly.com’s Keith Pompey, who himself got moist last night, reports something similar:


There was moisture on the court from the rink beneath the playing surface. The temperature inside the arena was higher than what it normally is for a basketball game. A source said that it was 75 degrees in the arena. That combined with the temperature in the 60s outside with 100 percent humidity and rain led the condensation on the court.

A Wells Fargo source said someone in operations dropped the ball and did not turn down the temperature in the arena.

“It’s an extremely unfortunate situation,” Wells Fargo Center president John Page said. “We’re not exactly sure what caused the situation. Was it condensation? Was it preliminary activity during the day? Those are all things we’re going to investigate so it doesn’t happen again.

CSN’s Jessica Camerato, dry as far as we can tell, has more:

Multiple people who arrived to the arena hours before scheduled tip-off commented the temperature inside was uncharacteristically warm. Wednesday’s forecast was on the higher side for Nov. 30, in the 60s with rain.

“[The indoor temperature] ranges based on the outside temperature,” Page said. “With our ice surface, sometimes humidity is our biggest opponent when you look at how we prepare for a game. Those are things on every daily and pregame prep we evaluate what our humidity levels are, what our in-arena temperatures are and what the outside conditions are as well.”

Now the question becomes when did the Sixers find out and why didn’t they better communicate to fans, who apparently weren’t updated on the delay in the arena until around 7:45. WIP’s Adam Reigner tweeted the following:

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Pompey reports that players noticed the moisture during their shootaround as early as yesterday morning, and there was a contest for Preston and Steve’s Campout for Hunger which took place on the floor in the afternoon. There are a bunch of hi-res photos of the court here.

I as much as anyone think the Sixers are nefarious, but I can’t imagine that they intentionally delayed a decision just to squirt out a few more concession bucks from a thin crowd, especially when you consider that they’re making good on the tickets, parking, and will give away FREE tickets to another (shitty) game. That said, their decision-making is awful, and you wonder at what point they decided to give it a go rather than just cancel the game. In their defense, I’m assuming that most involved thought building operations would be able to dry the court off and get it under control. Never mind the fact that the league had a say in this. Short of like the ice melting or a flood, I can’t imagine a scenario in which anyone wouldn’t think it would get resolved. Fans might be pissed, but I doubt the Sixers would’ve just let Joel Embiid linger on the court, kicking it with fans…

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for real, how awesome is Embiid?

… or that the Kings would’ve let DeMarcus Cousins MOP THE FLOOR, if everyone didn’t think they were going to be able to get a game in.