Raptors beat Pacers after speaker fire causes delay, fan evacuation

TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors were on fire during their 131-91 victory against the Indiana Pacers. And for a while, so was their arena.

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Saturday night’s NBA game was delayed 70 minutes during the first half when a speaker fire caused the evacuation of fans at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, the Toronto Star reported.

Fans were ordered to leave the building with 4:05 left in the first half and the Raptors leading 66-38, according to CTV.

A team spokesperson said a “small electrical fire” in one of the speakers above Section 103 behind the basket was the reason fans were evacuated from the 23-year-old arena, the Star reported. Fans were cleared from the section, and Toronto Fire Services personnel could be seen in the empty aisles, staring at the ceiling, according to The Associated Press.

“You could definitely smell it,” Pacers acting coach Lloyd Pierce told reporters after the game. “By the time (the game) stopped the smell was tough.

“Fifteen years for me, probably the most bizarre situation that we’ve been in for a game.”

There was “no threat to public safety,” the Raptors told the sellout crowd of 19,800 through its public address announcer, Herbie Kuhn, CTV reported.

Two workers using ropes and harnesses hung from the ceiling and sprayed a fire extinguisher at the speaker, the Star reported.

Players returned from the locker rooms about an hour later for a 10-minute warmup before finishing the first half. Halftime was cut to 7 1/2 minutes, the AP reported.

“All of a sudden during the game I looked up and that whole section was cleared out, and I was trying to figure out why or what happened,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse told reporters after the game. “I was like, ‘Geez, they didn’t sell that whole section? I wonder why they didn’t sell those seats.’ Then it was, ‘Wait a minute, there’s got to be a big group coming later.’

“Then I saw the firemen standing there. I wasn’t sure from where I was what it was. I went back to the bench and said to the coaches, ‘Hey, something’s going on over there.’ Somebody heard me say that and they said ‘Yeah, there was a fire up in a speaker.’”

Pascal Siakam scored 23 points to lead the Raptors, who moved into sole possession of sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings. The top six teams are guaranteed playoff spots; Toronto is one game behind fifth-place Chicago with eight games remaining in the regular season.

“It was crazy,” Toronto forward Precious Achiuwa told reporters. “I’ve never been in a game like that.”

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