Raptors and Celtics blast floor conditions at Scotiabank Arena

The Boston Celtics squeaked out a 108-105 win in a toe-to-toe match with the Toronto Raptors last night, but the players had bigger concerns than the game itself.

Anyone watching this game may have noticed that players were slipping all night long. The outing marked the Raptors’ first of the NBA’s new in-season tournament, which featured a modified black court.

All 30 teams around the league received a new court, but plenty of issues have already arisen. As per an ESPN article by Zach Lowe, the process of manufacturing 30 new courts only really got going in August, and it appears that they’ve got a few detractors from the people paid to use them. Per ESPN, the courts are made by three American external companies: Horner Sports Flooring, Robbins Sports Surfaces and Connor Sports.

The new courts have already caused several issues for players, including Boston’s Jaylen Brown, who suffered a minor injury from slipping while trying to get open for a pass.

“That was a slip, and I think I might have strained my groin a little bit,” Brown said. “We’ll see how it feels, but the court was just slippery all game. I think we all as players are here for the in-season tournament. It’s going to generate revenue, excitement, competition, etc, but we’ve got to make sure the floor is safe to play on. We can’t put our players out there and risk their health. Tonight, I thought the floor was kind of unacceptable. I think guys were just slipping all over the place, not just me.”

The court conditions impacted both sides, as many players seemed well aware of how slippery things were. Raptors power forward Precious Achiuwa also chose to speak out on it once the game had wrapped up.

“I mean, I fell myself a few times,” Achiuwa said. “A few of the times, I ended up on the floor. I slipped a few times. You can see they’re saying the same thing at the end of the game. I think somebody may have gotten hurt on the other side. I think I’m fine with the colour, I just want to play basketball. That extra stuff is just extra. I just want to play basketball, but at the same time I’m not trying to get hurt. Especially a guy like myself, missed the majority of the season, so I’m extra cautious.”

While the NBA deserves credit for getting creative with the new in-season tournament, they will have to ensure that the courts are in proper condition for their athletes. Most notably, the Dallas Mavericks went away from their In-Season tournament court on November 10 after a manufacturing issue was noticed with the court.

With Toronto next hosting an In-Season tournament game on Friday, November 24 against the Chicago Bulls, expect the working staff at Scotiabank Arena to do everything possible to ensure this won’t be an issue moving forward.

You might also like:
• "That's on me": Rajaković on costly substitutions for the Raptors