MILWAUKEE (AP) 鈥� Milwaukee鈥檚 scheduled game against the Miami Heat on Thursday was pushed back an hour due to the Bucks鈥� difficulties arriving from .
The NBA announced at 4:05 p.m. Central time 鈥� less than two hours before the game鈥檚 scheduled start 鈥� that it would begin at 7:30 p.m. rather than 6:30 p.m.
The Bucks had been stuck in New Orleans, where they had arrived Monday to prepare to face the Pelicans on Wednesday. after a historic winter storm Tuesday dumped about a foot of snow there, with many of the city鈥檚 roads remaining coated in ice a day later.
鈥淲e sat around the hotel basically since we got there, which was the problem,鈥� Rivers said during his pregame availability. 鈥淲e left a day early. We got there and couldn鈥檛 practice. Yesterday we couldn鈥檛 go to shootaround. So we haven鈥檛 touched the ball in a while. But we鈥檙e here, and I鈥檓 glad we鈥檙e playing the game.鈥�
The Bucks鈥� plane landed in Milwaukee less than three hours before the new, later starting time. Rivers said the Bucks got to the arena about two hours before the game was expected to tip off.
Rivers said he鈥檇 watch players closely early in the game because they hadn鈥檛 been able to do any cardio for the last few days.
He said the Bucks had a coaches鈥� meeting Thursday morning. Coaches also showed players their individual matchups on the flight to Milwaukee but weren鈥檛 able to do any video work.
鈥淚 told them to think back to AAU,鈥� Rivers said. 鈥淭here were games like this. You鈥檇 play three games in a day. I said this is how that鈥檚 going to feel. No excuses and just be prepared is basically the message I gave them.鈥�
The Heat didn鈥檛 have any weather issues and were in Milwaukee in time to participate in a Thursday morning shootaround.
鈥淭hankfully we haven鈥檛 had to deal with the weather situation, but I think everybody鈥檚 glad we鈥檙e playing this game tonight,鈥� Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. 鈥淚t just gets a lot more complicated when you have to push it down the road.鈥�
Rivers agreed that it was best to play the game Thursday, even under these circumstances. Rivers noted the Bucks already will be playing plenty of games on back-to-back days the second half of the season.
鈥淲e already have one game we have to make up,鈥� Rivers said. 鈥淧utting two on that schedule would not be very wise. I was really pushing to get this game played.鈥�
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AP NBA:
Steve Megargee, The Associated Press
