NBA Commissioner David Stern let his thoughts on loud fiery in-arena entertainment be known when he was asked about it during Game 4 of the Celtics/Cavaliers series. As reported by ESPN:

“I’m going to get in trouble for this, but I think they’re ridiculous. I think the noise, the fire, the smoke is a kind of assault that we should seriously consider reviewing in whether it’s really necessary given the quality of our game,” Stern said.

“It may be that these are the maniacal rantings of a fan from a different era, and I recognize that, but you know I’m sitting there waiting for the next cannon to go off, and then the fire heats up the arena so the temperature in the arena rises by 15 degrees – that’s if you can see it because you’re still waiting for the smoke, which is chemical, to clear, which is invariably done by the end of the half,” Stern said.

Nearly two weeks ago, a ring of fire used in a mascot stunt provoked a 19-minute delay during Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals between the San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Hornets.

Not even a week later, Ben Wallace was kept in the team’s locker room prior to Game 3 of the Cavaliers-Celtics series in an effort to avoid the pre-game fireworks; the same fireworks that worsened his dizzy condition and eventually knocked him out of Game 2 just two nights before.

“I think that’s what has happened is that very well-intentioned people feel that it’s their obligation to root their team on to victory, to urge them,” [Stern] said. “But what they do is, they think if you turn up the loudspeaker it’s going to help them perform better – even though there are babies in the building.

“I think we should have it as a time capsule item, because in some future century people are going to look and say, ‘What were they thinking about?’” he said. “And I’m positive that Red [Auerbach] is watching and getting ready to call me, because I think we’ve gone over the top.”

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