It’s 2010 NBA All-Star weekend, and instead of the main events taking place in a regular basketball arena, they’re in massive Dallas Cowboys football stadium. What’s it like to shoot a basketball in such a giant building?
Howard Beck of the New York Times reports:
In past games played in domes, the N.B.A. has placed the court in one quadrant of the field and reduced the seating area, creating a slightly more intimate feel. That will not be the case Sunday, with the court placed around the 50-yard line and nearly every seat filled.
Playing in cavernous buildings can cause havoc for shooters, who rely on depth perception, as well as form and muscle memory. Players have complained in the past about Chicago’s United Center and Los Angeles’ Staples Center, two modern arenas with high ceilings and, because of their design, a distant-looking backdrop of faces.
“If you asked anybody who could shoot,” McHale said, “they’d tell you they’d much rather play in the smallest place, with the background right behind the basket.”
Although All-Star Games often devolve into dunking competitions, it will be interesting to see how the N.B.A.’s best shooters, such as Denver’s Chauncey Billups and Phoenix’s Steve Nash, cope in a carnival funhouse.
The organizers will have their own challenges navigating a foreign building, particularly one as massive as Cowboys Stadium. At 3 million square feet, it is three times bigger than Texas Stadium, the Cowboys’ former home, and twice the size of the new Yankee Stadium.
It’ll be fun to watch the shooting percentages.
