The NBL and NBA announced in June that five Australian teams will be heading to the USA to play in pre-season later this year. One of those games include the Melbourne United facing the Toronto Raptors which has Aussie Hoops fans giddy at the prospect of
“our” NBL champions (who lost to the NBA’s Oklahoma City last year by one point) getting the chance to face NBA talent again, and possibly going one step further and achieving the impossible, beating an NBA team.
This week NBA team’s pre-season schedules were released and when the team at Toronto Sports Blog rapturesrapture.com saw the name “Melbourne United” pencilled in, it’s fair to say those hoops loving canucks don’t exactly share the same sentiments as us when it comes to the NBLxNBA matchup.
I noted with some befuddlement the fact that Vancouver and Montreal fans will see the Raptors against NBA teams, while Toronto fans get….Melbourne United, from Australia.
It seems its not only the unusual opponent Raptor’s fans are puzzled about, it seems there is clearly a language barrier between the Aussie Hoops tragic, and the Canadian Hoops tragic.
I visited their website, which I found Down-Under quirky. For example, here’s the first sentence from a write-up of a recent game: Melbourne United hit the court in a behind-closed-doors scratch match against Chinese Taipei on Friday, in their first full hit out of the pre-season.
Help needed: what’s a “scratch match” and a “full hit”? And why would you play a game behind closed doors?
Despite the language barrier, the Toronto-Melbourne game will be an interesting international showcase for both Canada and Australia both setting records for the number of NBA players from those respective countries in 2017-18 (14 for Canada, eight for Australia).
#NBLxNBA is back, and this time we’re taking it to the NEXT LEVEL…
7⃣ GAMES. 6⃣ CITIES. 5⃣ NBL TEAMS. 6⃣ NBA TEAMS.
BRING. IT. ON.
ALL the details ➮ https://t.co/hOvHcfIimY pic.twitter.com/wEjk6wy90z
— NBL (@NBL) June 27, 2018
In what will be a true underdog scenario with current betting agencies listing a betting line of -23.5 points for Toronto, meaning they expect Melbourne to lose by 24 points.
While the Raptors seem to be the sure thing (currently paying $1.01 to win) based on United’s close call against Oklahoma City Thunder last year, it might be worth better a couple of dollars on them to win with Melbourne currently paying $21 for the upset victory.
NBLxNBA 2018 Schedule:
September 28 – Philadelphia 76ers vs Melbourne United – Wells Fargo Centre, Philadelphia
September 29 – Utah Jazz vs Perth Wildcats – Vivint Smart Home Arena, Utah
September 30 – LA Clippers vs Sydney Kings – Stan Sheriff Centre, Honolulu
October 3 – Phoenix Suns vs New Zealand Breakers – Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix
October 5 – Denver Nuggets vs Perth Wildcats – Pepsi Centre, Denver
October 5 – Toronto Raptors vs Melbourne United – Scotiabank Arena, Toronto
October 5 – Utah Jazz vs Adelaide 36ers – Vivint Smart Home Arena, Utah
Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.
