Game 3 is at the same time that the Formula 1 is happening in Melbourne, where there's going to be record breaking crowds. Was there no way they could avoid that clash?

Melbourne is big enough for that to not be a major issue tbh, but I agree that you don't really need two 5 day breaks if it goes to 5 games.

All games on 10Peach btw

The NBL honestly sucks the life out of the hype with the scheduling of the playoffs and finals. Every year it seems odd.

This is huge.

Tassie and United both have everything they need to win a title. United has been on top all year and hasn't lost back-to-back games all season (and funnily enough that could continue without them winning the title) and Tassie is the one team with a better percentage than them, having not lost a game by more than 8 points all season.

For a while now, I've been saying Tassie are United's nightmare matchup. They've got everything- starting with Scott Roth. A quality finisher in Doyle and weapons in Crawford and McVeigh, a pair of quality rim protecting 7 footers, depth, and they're very well coached.

United has home-court advantage and more experience, with Delly, CG, Ili and Clark having plenty of NBL and NBA championships, and international experience between them. Even their younger players Travers and Hukporti are into their 5th professional seasons with NBL playoff experience under their belts.

But Tassie are in better form having just dismantled Perth in a clinical performance after doing similar to Illawarra in the play-in, and they've been United's bogey team since entering the league 3 years ago.

Tassie slight favourites for mine.

Not ideal scheduling. Game 1 clashes with the first full round of AFL, with 9 of the 10 Victorian teams playing in Victoria this weekend (although thankfully only one Sunday game, earlier at 1pm), Games 2 and 3 clash with Grand Prix weekend and Games 4 and 5 at Easter time. NBL should move the season forward.

Can't wait.

The other thing I forgot to mention- Tassie, like United, are quality at both ends of the floor.

Which is essential for winning a championship.

They have an offense where everybody knows their role, moving the ball well, with enough pure firepower to put a huge score on the board, and go-to guys in Doyle, followed by McVeigh and Crawford. Plenty of shooters surrounding them. And defensively they're elite as we saw last night.

United fives had better step up or it's over.
Travers has the ability to keep McVeigh under control and test out McVeigh on D.
Doyle will face better D in Delly or Illi.
Roth will match Vickerman or beat him in the strategy side.
Lots of good match ups, could Goulding be the difference or perhaps Crawford.
Too close to call just yet but JJs certainly look favourites.

Crawford has been a liability the3 last 2 games. Mises a few early shots on offence and he is shot. Gets pushed aside in these big games at the other end. Im suprised he was left on fpor sop long ion the 3rd term last nite. MacDonald a far better option at present IMHO.

Good point Dunkman.

Sam Froling got the better of JLA and Hukporti in that series. That was an area I expected United to have the advantage.

So many huge matchups.

Travers and McVeigh are crucial players for their teams. They are the glue that holds their teams together somewhat. McVeigh is the inside-outside scorer who keeps things ticking over when Doyle or Crawford go quiet. The stretch in Game 1 where he was in foul trouble was probably the main stretch in the entire series where Perth had clear ascendency. Travers is super-versatile, does a little bit of everything and is key to United's running game.

These guys were 3rd on their teams in Minutes per game. It's a huge matchup.

At guard, Doyle was the MVP of that series. Like Josh Adams before him, he's the number one finisher and go-to guy. JJ's guards are less heralded, but nonetheless very effective. MacDonald played some good defense on Cotton and hit some big shots. United's backcourt is one of the most experienced back-courts in NBL history- but they're also old. However, in case of injuries, Flynn Cameron and Tanner Krebs are ready to go and have hardly been used in the playoffs.

The depth and injury cover is an interesting comparison- JJ's have more depth in the frontcourt with Deng, Krslovic, and Vodanovich where United have more depth in the backcourt- which makes sense from a planning perspective after Ili's concussion issues last year. JJ's most important players for staying healthy would be Doyle and Crawford, whereas United really wouldn't want Travers, or the two bigs going down.

I don't mind the scheduling.
Spreading it out has a momentum cost, but a series when both teams are fatigued by half time of game 3 isn't the best product. Personally I just want the best product.

I like the potential of a Game 5 on Easter Sunday.

I believe it is the first time the NBL has fixtured on an Easter public holiday.

As with Christmas Day what else are you going to do after lunch?

Not true- Copes 37 points on Good Friday 2002 is NBL folklore

I don't like Easter Sport but, I'll feel very conflicted and would be difficult not to tune in

Although, there's actually sport every year at Easter so I'm sure I've watched plenty of Easter sport over the years.

I'm tipping this series goes to 5 too. Tassie in 5

What's wrong with Easter sport? Gives something for people to watch.

They should have had it Good Friday instead of Thursday though.

or Easter Monday.

Not true- Copes 37 points on Good Friday 2002 is NBL folklore

Yeah the 6th seeded Tigers with the upset over top seed Titans

The AFL only started doing Good Friday sport in about 2017. NRL much longer, but yeah, looking back it's odd there was a game in 2002

Doesn't anyone find it concerning that there's been virtually no media coverage of the playoffs in the mainstream?

As soon as AFL and NRL start, all summer sports are forgotten about, especially the NBL playoffs. Just feels like it always ends like this and doesn't matter how successful or popular the league is going. Its completely discarded.

Doubt the GF will get much notice based on every other year.

Spot on.

9 of 10 Victorian teams are playing in Victoria for the first time in 2024 this weekend

83,000 at the G last night. That's where the media's eyes are

NBL is a summer sport, finish it off in the last week of February (or first week of March if you must, due to FIBA). Whatever you do, dragging it on to Easter is not ideal.

Cricket has been slowly declining since the glory days of the 90's

A League is struggling at the moment

Tennis takes a few eye balls but it's only 3 or 4 weeks, mostly a fascination, and a fair percentage of tennis observers are casuals who don't follow regular weekly sports

In other words, summer is the NBL's prime opportunity. Dragging it into competition with the AFL and NRL is madness,

It just reduces the potential gains from epic series like last year, which we may see again this year. And undoes some of the great work the NBLs been doing in recent years

Just checked ticketek. Heaps of seats still available for Game 1. Looks unlikely to sell out.

United sold out 8 of 14 regular season games this year.

Semi finals was excusable - short notice, Wednesday night. Historically semi final crowds are always low.

But if they don't sell out the Grand Final games, you can lay the blame squarely at the fact the AFL has started.

General public tickets only went on sale last night at 5pm

And game one still has the same "I'll wait for the next one" problem the semis have.

Very true

For people like me, for whom circumstances dictate only going to one or two games but not three, aren't going to choose Game 1

I disagree LV. The NBL season operates on a very tight schedule as it is. The FIBA break is an unwanted problem, but they can't be expected to finish the season any sooner. It's already over in a flash anyway.

I love the AFL, but they control the sports landscape here a little too much. If they were one of the "big 4" sports in the US they'd have to compete accordingly, and would probably be put in their place a few times. Here they can start whenever they want and the NBL can't do a thing about it. Besides, I thought the NBL started during AFL grand final week to avoid clashing with the AFL... yet it's clashing again!

If you had to choose, is it better clashing at the start with 3 weeks of AFL finals, or clashing with 3 or 4 opening AFL rounds during the NBL Grand Final?

Interesting Q but I'd say former is better.

February is the month the NBL should be capitalising on. There isn't much on the sporting calendar.

Yes, the fiba qualifying window stops nbl for 2nd half of Feb. That's a problem. I'd start playoffs earlier and the Fiba can be the gap between semis and GF. GF would be finished already using that schedule.

They did that last year and everyone complained about the death of momentum heading into the GF.

NBL playoffs are always a major headache for the league. The things they have to deal with include:

1) Short notice and short turnaround of games making selling enough tickets in a tight space very challenging, causing smaller than usual crowds at a time when they should be packed out.
2) Venue availability becomes an issue as teams can't book their arenas without set dates. That then leaves unwanted Wednesday night games when the fan base is used to Friday Sat and Sunday games usually
3) The stupid FIBA break that extends the playoff time and momentum is easily lost
4) The inevitable clash with the behemoth that is the AFL and to an extent the NRL (only a problem if Sydney and Brisbane are deep in the playoffs)
5) Probable exhaustion from the fans by now who are getting into the AFL/NRL seasons, or prefer those leagues anyway.

Sigh...who'd want to run this league at this time of year! Credit where it's due. There's a lot of things going against the league.

Nbl should start earlier, there is only eight teams left when afl finals start. Yes it might make seasons start a little slower but February would be great for nbl finals. Maybe only play GF after fiba break.

My thoughts exactly Dunkman

Every single AFL fan is engaged right now (except maybe a few West Coast and North fans who are in a semi-permanent state of disengagement!). At the time when the NBL should be marketing one of the great competitive advantages of its product- the drama, twists and turns, and epic momentum changes of a multi game series.

Playoffs series are like the best thing about test match cricket, but at faster pace, and without spending 7 daylight hours per day

Game 1 - 2000 seats were remaining yesterday evening - now 1000 left

I think everyone running the NBL would prefer it to begin sooner to avoid the AFL clash at this time of year as everyone has mentioned
The problem then would be that teams couldn't aquire late NBA cuts, and I think that the current starting schedule is to allow teams to di just that, and also be an option for players in that situation as well

Crowd 9,108

Disappointing. Could've sold out 15,000 at Rod Laver if this was a month ago, and if they'd wanted to.

But of course, there's difficulties that have been pointed out above.

Anyone else notice game two tips in a few hours?

Barely.