2010/2011 NBL schedule released

MEDIA RELEASE

27 May 2010

2010/11 NBL SEASON TO TIP-OFF 15 OCTOBER

Basketball Australia has released the schedule for the 2010/11 National Basketball League season, with the Sydney Kings scheduled to make their highly-anticipated return to the NBL on the same day the competition begins play on Friday 15 October.

The Kings, who will return to the NBL after a two-year absence, will face long-time rivals the Melbourne Tigers on the road in a classic Sydney-Melbourne confrontation on Opening Night at the State Netball Hockey Centre (AKA ‘The Cage’).

Ironically, the last time the Kings played a game in the NBL they went up against the Tigers before a capacity crowd of 10,244 people at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in a deciding Game Five of the 2008 NBL Grand Final series.

For the first time since that match back on 14 March 2008, the Kings will play in front of their home fans at ‘The Kingdome’ (the Sydney Entertainment Centre) when they return to Sydney on Saturday 16 October to host the New Zealand Breakers in their home opener. That will see the Kings end a 927-day absence from the competition.

In other Round One matches:

- Last season’s surprise packets and runners-up the Wollongong Hawks will host the Gold Coast Blaze on Opening Night at the WIN Entertainment Centre;
- The Cairns Taipans will visit their archrivals the Townsville Crocodiles on Saturday 16 October at the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre (‘The Swamp’)’
- Reigning champions the Perth Wildcats will begin their quest for a repeat on the road against traditional rivals the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday 17 October at The Dome.

The Wildcats will unfurl their 2010 Championship banner for the first time in Round Three at their home opener on Friday 29 October. Fittingly, the Wildcats’ opponent that night at Challenge Stadium (‘The Jungle’) will be the team they beat to win the title, the Wollongong Hawks, making the game the first Grand Final rematch of the season.

Basketball Australia Chief Executive Officer Larry Sengstock said the schedule was a marked improvement on recent years and should have fans looking forward to the new season’s tip-off on October 15.

“We feel this is the best schedule we’ve had in many years, and the fans will directly benefit from the work we’ve done to get it right,“ said Sengstock. “We’ve liaised closely with all nine clubs to maximise our opportunities to have themed rounds and regular marquee match-ups.

“Our focus this year is very much on having games on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays,” Sengstock added. “That’s great for families and is right in line with the feedback we have been receiving from fans. We also have managed to increase the average time between games, which mean our athletes will be fresher. That should have a positive impact on the standard of play that fans see.”

The schedule, which features nine teams each playing 28 games (14 home, 14 away), will run over 25 rounds with the regular season concluding on Saturday2 April.

The 2011 Finals will once again see the top four teams qualify for the post-season, with one playing four and two playing three in best-of-three Semi Finals. The Grand Final will once again be a best-of-three.

The 2010/11 NBL season will be seen nationally on Network Ten’s digital sports channel ONE after Basketball Australia recently signed a new five-year deal to show games through to the end of the 2014/15 NBL season.

Click here to see the full 2010/11 NBL schedule.

Steve Nash's top 10 assists

Thanks to the crew at Dime, I stumbled across this Sports Illustrated "Hot Clicks" highlight package of Steve Nash's top 10 career assists. Its my boy Steve Nash so I had to share it ...

Amare ... giving back

After Amare Stoudemire dominated game 3 of their series against the Lakers to the tune of 42 points, 11 boards ... I came across this story about him today. Great to see him doing his best for his fans.

NBA Star Uses Group Buying to Sell Playoff Tickets on Facebook

Phoenix Sun’s power forward Amar’e Stoudemire has teamed with AtCost.com and Razorgator Tickets to turn his Facebook Page into a group buying hub where fans can purchase discounted playoff tickets. Stoudemire’s group buying store employs a methodology that’s remarkably similar to the ideology that Groupon made popular. The store rewards Stoudemire fans with much cheaper playoff game ticket prices if enough people collectively purchase the tickets within an alloted time.

The first big discounted ticket deal was launched prior to Game 3 of the Lakers vs. Suns playoff match up, and sold out. Now the Game 4 offer is in full swing and offers a pair of tickets that normally retail for $600.00 in Sections 201 – 205 at a reduced price.

The price as of publishing is $302.81, but that price continues to drop as the offer is shared by Facebookers and purchased by more people. The price will continue to fall until the offer sells out or time runs out, with all ticket buyers only accountable to pay the final lowest price. Another bonus is that ticket buyers never have to leave Facebook during the process of the purchase transaction, and they can see how much their social media sharing activities will influence the ticket price.

While the idea behind Stoudemire’s store is not original, the application is still interesting. The notion that an individual athlete can drive bulk ticket sales via Facebook is quite unique. The people behind the strategy and application are proving that the combination of celebrity and social media carries real power measurable in dollars and fan promotion.

WWTSM

While reading Dime this morning I came across a post about a new Steve Nash shirt in honour of his one-eye game. Looking a little deeper in to the website selling the shirt I came across this comedy GOLD!

Who Wants to Sex Mutombo?

$20-$25

One night Dikembe Mutombo walked into a Georgetown bar and the place went silent. Dikembe responded, “WHO WANTS TO SEX MUTOMBO?!”

Available Colors: Black, Navy Blue

Available Styles:
Men - Fruit of the Loom Classic, American Apparel
Women - Gildan Classic, American Apparel Slim Fit

NBA Lottery 2010

Here are the highlights from today's NBA Lottery. As you can see, most of the later picks went to plan except for the Warriors and Wolves who fell down the order.

Its funny watching some of the reactions from team representatives ... obviously my boy Danny Granger would have liked a higher pick than 10th. Also, Aaron Brooks from the Rockets must be trying to look intelligent with those glasses.

Washington is in desperate need of a change of fortunes so hopefully they select John Wall rather than another Kwame Brown (their last #1 draft pick).

Teen basketball star revealed as fraud

By ninemsn staff

A Texas high school student who led his school's basketball team to the state finals has been exposed as a 22-year-old Haitian man posing as a teenager.

Guerdwich Montimere, a naturalised US citizen born in Haiti, registered himself as a 16-year-old student at Permian High School for the 2009/10 school year, the Associated Press reported.

Using the pseudonym Jerry Joseph, the 22-year-old was taken in by the school's coach when he said he was homeless in the middle of last year.

Since then the 194cm-tall man became a basketball star for the high school team, taking the team to the state playoffs and being awarded the best newcomer.

Montimere had previously attracted attention as an impressive high school basketballer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, before he graduated in 2007.

He was caught after coaches from Florida recognised him and reported him to school district officials.

"This affected a lot of people — the whole school of Permian embraced that kid," basketball coach Danny Wright said.

"He deceived us and played on everyone's emotions."

Arrested on Tuesday night, Montimere could face up to six months in prison for the misdemeanour.

Steve Nash is a machine

Great to see my boy Steve Nash lead the Suns to a 4 game sweep of the Spurs and advance to the Western Conference Finals. What I didn't realise until after the game was how he did it and that the Spurs yet again put the hurt on him. Check out this video below for the highlights:



What they don't really focus on is the fact that Nash had that great last quarter despite playing with just one eye (open).



In the highlight package at the top, they mentioned Steve's nose injury (from Tony Parker), but they failed to mention another memorable one ... the "Robert Horry incident":

Goran Dragic ... explodes!

Definitely the most surprising individual performance of the NBA playoffs, came yesterday from Suns back-up point guard Goran Dragic.

Here's his ridiculous stat line:

Bench		Min	FG	3Pt	FT	+/-	Off	Reb	Ast	TO	Stl	BS	BA	PF	Pts
C. Frye		32:41	3-6	3-5	0-0	+15	0	5	1	0	0	2	0	3	9
J. Dudley		25:17	0-3	0-3	0-0	+13	1	3	1	1	2	0	1	3	0
L. Barbosa		18:35	5-7	2-2	1-3	+12	1	4	1	1	0	0	1	4	13
G. Dragic		17:27	10-13	5-5	1-3	+10	1	3	2	0	1	1	0	0	26

26 points in just 17 minutes. 10 of 13 from the field including a perfect 5 of 5 from deep.

Check out the highlights from the game below.



"Dropping people off like its the first day of school ... "

Andrew Bogut named 3rd team ALL-NBA

The big news today from the NBA is that Australian Andrew Bogut was named in the All-NBA Third team. This is significant because its the first time ever an Australian had earned an All-NBA honour. Bogut had a great year and if it wasn't for a couple of injuries, I'm sure he would have gone one better and made the Second Team. Maybe next year tho ...

For the full story, click on the title below. For the full breakdown of the All-NBA teams, click here. Good to see my boy Steve Nash make the Second Team.

National Basketball League: Bogut receives All-NBA honours
May 07, 2010, 11:25 AM AEST By: Basketball Australia Australian Golden Star Boomer Andrew Bogut has been named in the 2009-10 All-NBA Third Team, the league announced overnight.

Bogut, the first Australian to earn All-NBA honours, received the most votes of any player on the Third Team and the 11th highest tally overall.

The dual Olympian started 69 games for the Bucks this year, averaging career-highs with 15.9 points and 2.5 blocks (second in the NBA) and added 10.2 rebounds (second-highest total in his career). The fifth-year veteran was one of two players (alongside Dwight Howard) to average at least 15 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks per game this season.