DALLAS — The winter weather in Dallas has caused travel problems for not only the residents of North Texas and those passing through, but also for an NBA team.
The Detroit Pistons played the Dallas Mavericks on Monday and lost 111-105. The Pistons' next game was scheduled to be against the Washington Wizards in Detroit on Wednesday, Feb. 1, but the team has not been able to fly out of Dallas.
Both Dallas-Fort Worth International and Love Field have experienced thousands of flight cancellations in the past few days. There were more than 1,000 on Tuesday and more than 1,500 on Wednesday.
The NBA announced Wednesday afternoon the Pistons-Wizards game would be postponed to a later date due to the team being unable to fly back to Detroit.
"The date for the rescheduled game will be announced at a later time," the NBA said in a press release.
The Detroit Pistons are 13-39 on the season, and the Washington Wizards have a 24-26 record.
The Pistons' next scheduled game is against the Charlotte Hornets on Friday, Feb. 3.
Pistons Head Coach Dwane Casey said he's optimistic the team can get back to Michigan by then.
The group tried to fly out Tuesday, but a spokesperson said they waited roughly six hours on the plane to take off because a crew had timed out.
By the time a new crew was assigned, conditions had worsened.
"We were sitting on the plane waiting," Casey said. "In the end, it was so icy that the planes couldn't get out of Love Field."
Casey and the team practiced on the court beneath the American Airlines Center Wednesday afternoon.
"We were supposed to have a game tonight so we wanted to have a good competitive practice," Casey said. "We're just stuck and so we're trying to make the best of a bad situation."
Casey has lived in Dallas, as he was with the Mavericks organization back when they won the NBA Championship in 2011.
So he knows firsthand how Texas shuts down when it's facing this kind of weather, but admits a place like Michigan likely would have been more prepared for all this ice.
"I've had those days and nights that you get here once or twice a winter," Casey said. "In Detroit, the night before something like this you see the trucks all over the city just pounding the roads and treating them. It's no disrespect to Dallas, you just don't get this type of weather here."
The winter weather might potentially affect the Mavericks' next game against the New Orleans Pelicans, too. Dallas and New Orleans are scheduled to play Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
NBA correspondent Mark Stein reported that the Pelicans, who just lost to the Nuggets on Tuesday in Denver, were practicing in Denver again on Wednesday because they can't fly into Dallas.
Stein reported that another option given to the Pelicans was to fly into Oklahoma City and then bus to Dallas from there in order to play Thursday's game.
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