We’ve all heard about “shooting lights out,” but apparently downtown Memphis couldn’t handle what was happening at the FedEx Forum on Sunday afternoon.
As the Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs were in the middle of the second quarter of Game 4 in their first round Western Conference playoff series, the lights went out in the arena. As it turns out, a power surge within downtown Memphis killed the fun of Game 4.
A downtown power surge cut the lights out at FedEx Forum. #wheresscotty #needmorepower pic.twitter.com/ieGPry3dwy
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) April 24, 2016
The outage lasted for around 20 minutes, and thanks to emergency backup generators and the LED boards around the arena, it wasn’t exactly pitch black.
In fact, Spurs beat writer Jabari Young chronicled what took place during the 20-minute delay.
No lights, no game #Spurs #Grizzlies power outage pic.twitter.com/G94mj0chMb
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) April 24, 2016
So both teams deciding to practice while the lights slowly come back on… #Spurs #Grzzlies
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) April 24, 2016
Hint: it also included Spurs coach Gregg Popovich showing no signs of exasperation.
Coolest dude through it all: Popovich… Just chillin on the bench with his famous stare #Spurs
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) April 24, 2016
After the 20-minute delay, the two teams continued a short shoot-around and then went on to continue the contest. The Spurs would go on to win Game 4 by a score of 116-95 over the Grizzlies, sweeping the first round series.
San Antonio awaits the winner of Oklahoma City-Dallas in the Western Conference semis.
The only way this blackout could’ve been more embarrassing was if it happened at the grandest stage of the game, ala Super Bowl XLVII.