NBL slam-dunks crowd with Sydney Kings as A-League scores own goal

A new NBL crowd record emphatically proved the once-maligned competition was changing the Australian sporting landscape.

An NBL crowd record watches the Sydney Kings and the Illawarra Hawks at Qudos Bank Arena. Picture: Getty Images

Sydney Kings coach Will Weaver and his Illawarra counterpart Matt Flinn have saluted the record-breaking NBL crowd that attended the Kings-Hawks clash at Qudos Bank Arena and emphatically proved the once-maligned competition was changing the Australian sporting landscape.

Hoops is thriving while the A-League is floundering from poor crowd and television figures, no real superstars and a standard of play far below the rest of the world’s domestic leagues. NBL owner Larry Kestelman has rated Australia’s domestic scene as second only to the NBA and no one is arguing. If we’re to gauge the A-League’s global status in the politest possible terms, let’s just say it’s not in the top two and leave it at that. They are in a summer shootout in Australia and basketball is gaining evermore traction. The Kings defeated the Hawks 92-87 in front of 17,514 spectators in the Sydney arena, the largest gathering in its 40-year existence.

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It surpassed the previous NBL record of 17,143 set in 1999 at a double-header at the same venue.

“It’s big for our team. It’s big for our city. It’s big for our state. It’s big for our league,” Weaver said.

“The work that goes into building something at the macro level, like Larry has done, and one step below with new franchise ownership and what we’ve all come here to try to achieve, it’s a big symbol of what we’re trying to do. Get people excited about basketball. Help people who are already fans of basketball understand there are great things to watch here. Crowds have gotten bigger and bigger. You walk out and think, this thing’s full. Cool.”

Weaver, an American with NBA coaching experience, said the milestone crowd was all the more meaningful because it came after a week of Australian firefighters risking their lives in the selfless bid to save others.

“Thinking about people trying to evacuate their homes and trying to keep their families safe, thinking about people just trying to go about their lives with all that going on, a game like this in that same week, in our city, that’s what sport is great for. It’s meaningful for me and our players and I’m proud of it. I’m grateful for it. I hope that we continue to play well enough to earn bigger and bigger crowds.”

Flinn, a veteran of the NBL, could recall matches that struggled to draw a crowd.

“I’ve been here since 82 as a towel boy,” he said. “To see this league grow to where it is now, to see it grow to 17,000, it’s unreal. Credit to Sydney ... I think a healthy Sydney is a healthy NBL so to be part of it, I’m just really pleased.”

The appearances of superstar Andrew Bogut and superstar-in-waiting LaMelo Ball triggered the record crowd.

The Kings’ NBA-contracted Brazilian, Didi Louzada, said through a translator: “I was anxious about this match. I really wanted to be out on the court to play against LaMelo and to play against the Hawks. When we walked out on the court, we felt it was like a bit of home. It was wonderful for me.”