March 11th is a day that basketball fans will be talking about for a long time. Years down the road I can see ESPN doing a 30-for-30 on how a match-up between the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder turned the NBA would on its head. Not because a top four seed in the West was on the line, or because OKC was screaming into the postseason with a team that was supposed to be destined for the lottery. No, they’ll be talking about the Jazz and Thunder because they paved the way to the NBA season being put on hold a month out from the playoffs.
Utah center Rudy Gobert became the first player to be diagnosed with the Coronavirus. His testing positive not only led to the Thunder/Jazz game being postponed but also the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans, due to referee Courtney Kirkland having called the Utah/Toronto game on Monday night, and ultimately the season being suspended.
Here’s a rough timeline of the craziest night the Chesapeake Energy Arena has ever seen.
11:24 am | Utah Jazz announce Rudy Gobert is questionable to play due to an illness.
6:30 pm | Utah coach Quin Snyder reiterates that Gobert is questionable.
6:59 pm | Seconds before tip, Thunder head medical staffer Donnie Strack speaks to the three officials. All player are sent back to their bench areas.
7:00 pm | Oklahoma point guard Chris Paul runs over to the Utah bench and asked “what’s wrong with Rudy?” and they all yelled back for him to get away.
7:00 pm | Officials call head coaches Billy Donovan and Quin Snyder together.
7:14 pm | Players return to locker rooms.
7:15 pm | NBA official Ben Taylor say he doesn’t exactly know what’s going on, but that he’s been asked to delay the game.
7:30 pm | Jazz/Thunder game officially postponed.
8:30 pm | NBA announces the the season will be suspended.
10:00 pm | Oklahoma City players leave the arena after having fever tests done.
10:35 pm | Utah players remain quarantined in locker room waiting to be tested.
11:30 pm | Nurses finish testing Jazz players, team is informed they cannot fly back to Utah. Team officials begin looking into the possibility of busing home.
11:55 pm | Plans are made for Utah players to stay overnight in the arena.
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