Team Gets Rude Wake-Up Call

Pacer players and personnel were jolted awake and ordered to evacuate their hotel rooms at 7 a.m. Friday morning because of a fire alarm that proved to be false.

It was a harrowing few minutes at their Santa Monica hotel , team officials said.

“Everybody was out of their room and halfway down the stairs,” said Tim Edwards, a media relations assistant for the club.

Along with the alarm, lights flashed and general announcements alerted the hotel occupants to the potential of a fire. Several minutes passed before players returned to their rooms.

The Pacers won’t have fond memories of this stay. Along with the two losses, they arrived at the arena almost an hour later than they had hoped on Wednesday. Hoping to slice through traffic on Friday, they had a police escort, only to find themselves trapped again on the Santa Monica Freeway.

“It still took us 45 minutes,” Edwards said.