Basically correct. The crowd last night in the "sporting capital of Australia" was shit and Melbourne should be embarrassed

Well, to be fair, this is our C team at best and we're playing against a team that isn't particularly good. NBL teams would beat both of those teams, and yes even this Boomers team just on the team chemistry factor alone, so it doesn't surprise me that they weren't packed.

Agree with the sentiments of ME.

Our B team against against a Filo team that's much poorer.

Difficult to get excited about it, would've been far more appealing to the Filos living locally in Melbourne. I love basketball and I didn't even bother watching the game on tv, meh.

Crowd/atmosphere/general interest would change dramatically if our BEST squad was taking on a top 10 country. I'd fly down to watch it for sure.

Contrary to what you said. It's also there b team. And to be honest they played really good with an out of shaped blatch and rookie point guard and 6'3 forwards. Lol. Brandt got out played by a flat footed center. But the crowd is our main concern. It just sucks big time.

I'd say it's out B-/C+ team given some of the (non)selections.

I wouldn't say the crowd was lacking spice, i would say the crowd was lacking Australian supporters. I'm not sure if this happens in other countries, but I have seen it in the cricket here also against teams like India.

You cant blame the so called away teams for showing up in numbers but it must of been a kick in the guts for the Boomers hearing them get booed and hearing the defence chant against them. Does this happen in other countries?

Sorry about the blank one first!

I went last night, and I really think it was just one of those nights where the local supporters were just a bit quieter in comparison. The Filipino fans in Melbourne don't exactly get too many opportunities to see their players in their national team, so no surprise they bought tickets early and there were a lot at the game.

It was a good stadium for that game, nearly full and good experience for the NBL players to beat a team that played above themselves.

Doesn't matter what team was out there for Australia, A team or D team...The crowd was horrible!!! It was pretty much an away game in heart of Melbourne. We got to do better come Sunday...

Duke Fan, why should Melbourne be embarrassed? Do you really think Adelaide, Sydney or Brisbane would have got a bigger crowd than 6.5k? Of course not.

The game was played at Margaret Court Arena, which seats seats 7k, so i think its a solid mid-week turnout.

Very good crowd, thanks to the Philippines supporters!

In terms of the standard of opposition, while missing Castro definitely hurt them, they probably had eight of their best team in, and here is a list of the Philippines' losses with Blatche playing.

16 v Australia (WCQ 2018)
12 v Greece (WC 2014)
11 v China (Asia Cup Final 2015)
9 v France (Olympic Q 2016)
9 v New Zealand (Olympic Q 2016)
4 v Argentina (WC 2014)
4 v Puerto Rico (WC 2014)
3 v Croatia (WC 2014)

It was a great crowd thanks to the local Filipinos!

Loved the atmosphere, but it felt more like an away game as a result.

Paul is on the money again.

Tribe if I had a dollar for every time I've read or heard how Melbourne supports everything and turns up for everything and how much better Melbourne is at supporting their teams, I'd have about 5 thousand times as many dollars as there were Aussie supporters there last night. It was an away crowd for our (current) national team and I don't care if it was "decent.

Let me change my original statement. Melbourne should be embarrassed except for the Filo population

What do you expect? The game was as boring as bat shit, most the crowd (except the flips) were probably watching other things on their phones.

I expected Melbourne folk to back up their over inflated,oft made claims. I'm sure BA did too which is why the game was scheduled in Melbourne

Maybe Boomers games vs some Asian sides eg chinese tapai should be held in country and regional australia eg Ballarat/Wodonga/Geelong etc

How does it impact FIBA where there world cup qualifiers are hosted within the host nation?
It has no impact on FIBA if Australia hosts lowly world cup qualifers vs the likes of Chinese Tapei in Wodonga and not in Melbourne etc..