Great to see this Thursday night game sold out last week!

Cook vs Hukporti and Creek vs Travers are what I'll be watching.

Some outs from both teams but United’s had more preparation with more of their rotation and looked better last week, so should win this.

Clark and Browne out. Think this will hurt SEM more than United. United are going to test the ability of the SEM backcourt and I believe they will be found wanting without Browne.
United by 15

Hopefully a close contest, can't see anything but United win though going on preseason form. Solid team play v more iso ball. I think United will get this by 15 plus.

Great to get season rolling.

A little off-track, but could someone say why the NBL has opening round during the biggest weekend of the Aussie sporting calendar? Seems super silly.

With all the NRL/AFL noise, I'd legit forgotten the NBL started tonight. Tbh I couldn't really care about it either until the footy is over.

With Pip around, would've made far more sense to have him here next week with the dead space from the footy codes. More media and public interest.

At least in-stadium commentary is back. Hold on, it's only going to be for New Zealand and Melbourne games :/

I'd prefer it started next week, but if it's a choice between Rd1 NBL clashing with AFL GF vs NBL GF clashing with Rd1 AFL then they've made the right decision.

We get fuck all free-to-air media coverage anyway (in Sydney), so just push on. I actually really like not avoiding footy-dates and pushing on - the product is good enough and fan interest has grown (as demonstrated by the sold out crowd) to the point where it's not having any noticeable impact.

Excited for the game tonight as a mostly neutral fan. I say mostly neutral because I definitely harbour some historical anti-Melbourne animosity, but I think this is going to be an excited squad to watch. Adding Cook instantly makes SEM look stronger, but I'm expecting United to pick up the W and probably be front-runners for most of the season.

Ideally they make the season a week less, but completely agree you'd rather round 1 clash with AFL GF than the NBL GF clash with AFL rnd 1

Some of us couldn't care less about a sport where you get rewarded for missing.
Basketball should not be scheduling their season around AFL or any other code. It’s a global game and world wide interest in our sport continues to grow.
AFL is really just a domestic program. Wait for it...….

Agree 100% Knowall, couldnt care less about AFL... bring on some hoops!

I'm totally in agreement with Knowall and Big Fudge. World game v local game, no comparison.

Lol At you lot

Biggest sport in Australia by far in terms of revenue and crowd attendance, like it or not.

Excited that the season is back! Hopefully this will be a good game but I reckon Melbourne shouldn't have to many issues against SEM. 10+ point win to start the season.

"Lol At you lot

Biggest sport in Australia by far in terms of revenue and crowd attendance, like it or not."

Don't mind it as a sport and played it for a few years as well, but it's telling that our two biggest footy codes are not played anywhere else (or in the case of NRL, not at the same type of level of prominence).

I wouldn't say it’s "telling". It’s fairly explicable in practical terms- We’re an island nation, geographically isolated from the rest of the world and with a historically small population. We also have an excess of space not enjoyed in other parts of the world where inserting 180m long ovals isn’t as straightforward.

Ultimately there’s two truly global games. They’re both very simple games that don’t require much equipment to play. One was exported globally by the USA- the dominant cultural force of the 20th century - and the other has a long history due to it’s simplicity. It’s unsurprising those are the only sports that reached all corners of the globe. Others were spread globally only to the extent of the major powers that exported them- eg cricket to Commonwealth countries, etc.

As a fan of both the AFL and NBL I have no idea how my mind will cope with trying to watch a basketball game one night and then an AFL game the next day and then switch back to basketball against after that. It's truly nuts. I'm already feeling anxiety about it.
I'll probably be yelling "3 seconds!!" when Mason Cox lingers in the goal square, then later I'll be like "that's a throw, ump!!" after a sweet dime by WMW, and then "BALL!!!!" when Waardenburg nails Abercromie with a brutal but fair tackle.

The women's World Cup had better ratings than any of the local football codes, yes basketball is a minor sport in Australia but nba scouts don’t come here to watch afl. I myself prefer world sports, each to their own though.

The ratings for the upcoming Women's A-League will show that the Women's World Cup was a fantastic "Event" that was well supported. Those ratings will not translate to the Women's World Game on the domestic front. AFL numbers both in attendance & membership are above world class numbers. And yes it's only a domestic sport.

The Matilda's was just Aussies doing what we do best- getting behind a big event.

Indeed each to their own, but my initial point was Aussie footy is a monumental cultural force in Australia - at least everywhere outside QLD/NSW- so for sporting administrators of other codes to ignore it would be an act of insane self-sabotage. Hence clashing the NBL GF with the yearly build up to round 1 of AFL would be utmost silliness. The AFL GF clash is less bad, because there's only one game this weekend.

In fact tomorrow's a public holiday here in Melbourne so arguably tonight isn't that bad. The crowd will come from the basketball crowd who knows it's on, and the wider media attention will pick up over the next week or two as AFL subsides (however "trade week" will still garner plenty of articles).

And why is tomorrow a public holiday?

Those outside Victoria may not know, but you could guess from this conversation.

[Hence clashing the NBL GF with the yearly build up to round 1 of AFL would be utmost silliness.]

Edit- I meant to say, clashing with actual Round 1. Clashing with the build up is inevitable but Round 1 will have 9 games and many Southern eyes drifting away from NBL.

Feel for you Luuc life can be a bit of a challenge at times

Just found this website so keen for this season!
Starting 5's for tonight who we got?

MEL: Delly, Ili, Goulding, Travers, Hukporti

SEM: Ayre, Te Rangi, Cummings, Creek, Cook

Foxwell should get a decent run, keen to see both him and Te Rangi for SEM.

Hope Bowen gets some minutes and keen to see Travers and Hukporti work together.

Keen for a massive sell out game lessssgo!

Foxwell will play for sure, Cameron will definitely get time with Clark out. So will Rissetto if Gak still out?

Is Kenyon playing?

I reckon Creek is in for a big one. Travers can't guard him.

Creek is massively underdone

Honestly haven't been this excited for the start of an NBL season for a very very long time

Nails on chalkboard Neroli at risk of spoiling it already. Whats the best radio station covering it live?

Yeah genuinely can't listen to Neroli Meadows

Scotty Pippen is right bored or stoned (or both) ;)

*either

Ugly quarter

This is pure pus, unwatchable.

The camera was on a guy in the good seats that looked like LaMarcus Aldridge. Anyone else see that?

I feel like every player out there is trying too hard. Give them a couple more rounds and I think things will settle down to be good watching.

First half demonstrated my biggest concern with the Phoenix... they cannot shoot

Rhys Vague was meant to help but he looks terrible

LoveBroker commentary mentioned that it is LaMarcus Aldridge

We're witnessing the bad side of aggressive Delly in the second half.

This is some ugly basketball, expected in the first game of the season.

Should have sent Scottie West that was a snoozefest

Bit of a practice run for United in the end. They're going to take some stopping this season.

I thought the game started pretty well and then devolved into garbage. I'd hate to think what Scottie, the Professor and LaMarcus Aldridge made of it by the end and whether theyre forgiving that it's the first game or laughing it up as soon as they get home lol.

I think we're in for a good NBL season once everything irons out though.

That game deserved a Jacket post.

Better get used to United games looking ugly. Their unrelenting defense is going to make the game look ugly. SEM started okay, but after a few adjustments and subs (they play deep) it slowly got away from SEM.
Not going to be a great weekend for SEM traveling to Perth.
United could severely embarrass Adelaide in the home opener, though refs may be asked to keep it close.

SEM aren't traveling to Perth.

Annnnnnnd Te Stinky returns to his usual NBL form after evolving in to a super saiyan at the FIBA Worlds.

Your right koberulz, read that wrong, that may make the game more interesting.

Well, we definitely showed Scotty that we're the best league after the NBA LOL

Glad I missed this one based on the comments.

Yep, it was a bit of a fizzer

I thought The Rangi and Ayre were a little selfish early in the game when things started to slip, and it was downhill from there for SEM.

I think Scotty could see it for what it was though, said he thought the players could play and shoot better. I think it's reasonable to say that's correct. Not ever NBA game looks all that great either. Professor probably thinks he can play here after that, with all his streetball shit. I like the pace and intensity the game is played at though, its just shots weren't falling and it looked a bit of a mess.

"I thought The Rangi and Ayre were a little selfish early in the game when things started to slip, and it was downhill from there for SEM"
Yeah they looked for their own shot too much when they could've dished off on the drive, or feed Cook in the post etc.
Pretty ugly offense for the most part by SEM

SEM and Creek underdone, United was very solid. Lacklustre game overall.

Cook's a one trick pony and they've worked him out already

Cooks wasn't great either, Kenyon should be an asset, Cummins also looking for his own shot, moller did ok for first game in 18 months, the 50/50 calls all went to united. Creek clearly underdone. United just suffocate you, keeping Goulding to seven points was good. Travers was very solid overall, don’t see nba though. Hukporti like Moller getting the rust and will be better for the run. Krebs solid off the bench, Loe was good. The do love a good flop United though and refs pay up.

Cummings was unlucky but overall the refs were pretty fair

Creek looks very out of shape and Cummings doesn't look like a French and German MVP at all, early days

Cooks was worked out in the last game of the blitz, defensively a bit all over the place as well, hopefully Williams is not to far away.

United clearly in the favourites for the season, rotation so deep.

Didn't mind the latest graphics/scorebug.

Less offensive to the eye and less clunky than last years

ME why would we care what the professor thinks? Guy would struggle in NBL1.

Going by pre-season Cooks will be MVP level right? Just like Hannahs was...

Phoenix have an NBL1 level bench. Creek looks too top heavy and will lead them no where again.

Honest question if Phoenix do bad again this season, surely greer is finished as GM.

If Phoenix want to get more out of their imports, they need to push it up the floor faster. I was frustrated by how slow they advanced the ball, so that they were always forced into half-court sets instead of being able to use their imports' skills and athleticism on the break

THAT was rubbish.

Tyler Cook. No s at the end of the surname.

Phoenix are not deep and expected to be outside the top 6 at the start of the season by most I'd wager, and missing one starter (not counting Williams with Cook in town) makes a huge difference. Creek also looks about 60% match fit, and Moller still has some rust to shake off.

I like Ayre as a bench sparkplug but he's not a starting NBL PG and SEM struggled to generate anything out of their halfcourt. Cook did look very average overall but SEM did a poor job of getting him going early after his first couple of possessions (and United did a good job of doubling him every time he caught it outside the paint), and it was really late in the game when Cook started missing everything, once the game was effectively over.

United on the other hand should be the best defensive team in the comp. Their Achilles' heel might be that they're going to have nights where they struggle to keep the scoreboard ticking over, but I predict we'll see a number of similar scorelines to last night in United games this season.

Could Travers win an MVP?

Travers aint winning anything, he's gone backwards and is way too soft to get to the NBA.

The ability is there. Just need to get tougher

Travers had one of the quietest 20 point performances I've ever seen. If I'd have guessed how many points I thought he had at the end I'd have said somewhere around 8-12.

Delly was good but I wouldnt rely on him doing that every week

Angus to be fair United were missing 2 of their 3 best scorers.

They aren't flush with scorers now, so it'll help if Delly keeps up his current form

Delly had a great start, but did force it a bit too much as the game went in.
Hukporti was barely getting fed at all.