NBA on Foxtel/Aussie TV 2013/2014

[The X]

I was hoping for some NBA as the season started but i'll wait till April. I got rid of my foxtel, good decision considering there's no NBA on Fox this season. So that'll be about 10yrs b/w the last FTA NBA game in Aus...@least it's back.

yeah, I'll also dropped Foxtel around July & haven't missed it....since it's easier to get highlights & games on internet, & the fact Fox Sports isn't showing any games, makes the decision easier in hindsight....as with you, am looking forward to April

[Laxation]

If all I had foxtel was for NBA, I'd drop it too...

ESPN has the WORST coverage of the nba possible. Constantly showing shit games between shit teams, with no variety.

Bulls cavs
cavs miami
miami spurs
spurs lakers
lakers bulls

etc

[Andrew]

It's not as bad as it used to be, when I first got Foxtel there were even more Spurs games and less variety overall. It sucks not having those extra couple of TNT or FSN games on Fox Sports though. The NBA's not the only reason I have Foxtel though so as long as I can afford it I'll keep it, but the new channel will make me feel better about having to give up Foxtel if/when that time comes.

This week's games:

Thursday November 13th: Rockets vs Suns
Saturday November 15th: Pistons vs Lakers

First time the Rockets are being shown this year, same for the Pistons and Lakers. The Pistons should be an interesting experiment to watch with Iverson, Kobe's always a threat to have a big scoring game and I'm looking forward to seeing how the Rockets' trio plays. Suns are still pretty good to watch in my opinion too so those matchups sound alright to me.

[Dan's Brain]

We never seem to get massive individual performance games. Players rarely seem to get 40+ points in our ESPN games. I wouldnt mind seeing Kobe or anyone else dumping 60 points on their opponents.

[Andrew]

We get a few but it often seems the more exciting games are shown on other networks. There has been a couple of 50 point games from Kobe shown on ESPN though and there was that double overtime game between the Suns and Mavericks back in the 2007 season, to name a couple of examples. Luck of the draw I suppose, some of the games are marquee matchups but then something amazing happens in a supposedly "lesser game" that isn't shown.

That's also where the lack of doubleheaders really hurts, with the game they don't show turning out to be the more exciting contest.

[Dean]

Wasnt the double overtime game cut off to show some other sport though?

[Dan's Brain]

My NBA on Foxtel wishlist prior to the season was headed by:

1. More variety
2. Great individual performances
3. A fight.

Part 3-check.


And where the fuck have u been, Dean?

[Andrew]

Wasnt the double overtime game cut off to show some other sport though?

The one in the 2005 Playoffs was, they cut to an episode of PTI Australia and eventually returned with about a minute left in the second OT. The one I was talking about was in the 2007 regular season though.

And good to see you around.

[Scotty]

Was anyone else lucky enough to catch the last minute of Denver's win over Boston, before the Detroit v LA game? No im not trying to subtly brag about our win

-liked the old laughing smilie used to use a warez site with the same skin as this btw...

[Andrew]

I did, can't blame you for enjoying that.

As for the smilies, I think I'll replace the new ones with the old ones from phpBB2. I'm fixing up a few things with the new skin this afternoon so I'll take a look at it then.

[Andrew]

The next few games:

Thursday November 20th: Mavericks vs Rockets (12 PM tipoff, KIA Shootaround beginning at 11:30 AM)
Saturday November 22nd: Hornets vs Thunder (1:30 PM tipoff)
Thursday November 27th: Magic vs Sixers (11:30 AM tipoff, KIA Shootaroung beginning at 11 AM)
Saturday November 29th: Mavericks vs Lakers (2:30 PM tipoff)

Mavericks/Lakers and Mavericks/Rockets is getting a bit repetitive but Hornets/Thunder and Magic/Sixers is a little less common for ESPN Australia.

[Scotty]

Wow the sixers, that's very rare for ESPN...

[Andrew]

They pop up every now and again but less commonly since Iverson was traded. Nice to see the Hornets get some airtime here.

[Scotty]

yeah i like the Hornets, but it wont be much of a match-up against the Thunder...
But im just craving any NBA after the cut to 2 games a week

[Drex]

Sixers! Yay!

[Andrew]

yeah i like the Hornets, but it wont be much of a match-up against the Thunder...
But im just craving any NBA after the cut to 2 games a week

It didn't turn out to be much of a game. Some nice plays but blowouts are only ever exciting when it's your favourite team blowing another team out. When you're largely impartial to both teams playing (though I guess I favour the Hornets in that particular matchup), you'd rather see a close game.

Magic/Sixers should be a good one since they're rarely shown, especially the Sixers. Mavericks/Lakers is something we've seen umpteen times before but it's a matchup of stars so it's usually interesting enough. Then we've got Lakers/Sixers and Blazers/Celtics the first week of December.

[Andrew]

Upcoming games:

Today: Lakers vs Sixers, 11 AM
Saturday December 6th: Blazers vs Celtics, 12 PM
Thursday December 11th: Suns vs Lakers, 2:30 PM
Saturday December 13th: Hornets vs Celtics, 12:00 PM
Thursday December 18th: Spurs vs Hornets, 1:30 PM

Not a great deal of variety (the matchups kind of offset that) but I'm looking forward to watching Oden in the Blazers/Celtics game and Hornets/Celtics could be good too.

[Scotty]

Damn been watching NBA on ESPN HD obviously and for some reason i checked it on regular old ESPN and the quality is horrid! It's gone right down in quality. I reckon it's because they have a HD channel now and dont need to bother with making a good quality non HD channel, so they can try and lure people to get ESPN HD...

But damn that's bad

[Andrew]

I haven't noticed a different myself, you're probably just used to the wonders of HD. I expect it would be like going from broadband back to dialup.

[sucram]

Can anyone confirm if we will be getting anything on xmas or boxing day? I don't think it was in the guide, kind of a shame if we don't atleast get the finals rematch

[Andrew]

Correct, we don't get the Christmas Day games because ESPN only shows games Thursdays and Saturdays (Australian time), thus Christmas Day for us would feature a game from the 24th; however, no games are scheduled on Christmas Eve, so there's no NBA Wednesday game that week. NBA Friday for December 26th (Saturday December 27th our time) will be shown as normal.

[Andrew]

ESPN International's online listings now run through March 2009. I've downloaded the schedule in Excel format, if anyone would like a copy you can get it here, or copy and paste from below. Note that all times are Sydney time (GMT +10), so remember to make the time adjustments if necessary.

December

20th: Lakers @ Heat, 12 PM
27th: Bulls @ Heat, 9 AM

January

1st: Bulls @ Magic, 6 AM
3rd: Jazz @ Lakers, 2:30 PM
8th: Heat @ Nuggets, 1 PM
10th: Mavericks @ Suns, 2:30 PM
15th: Lakers @ Spurs, 1 PM
17th: Magic @ Lakers 2:30 PM
22nd: Celtics @ Heat, 11:30 AM
24th: Mavericks @ Pistons, 11 AM
29th: Warriors @ Mavericks, 1 PM
31st: Celtics @ Pistons, 11 AM

February

Interesting to note in February, the Celebrity game is listed as well as the Rookie Challenge and All-Star Saturday but not the All-Star Game itself. I believe it was the same last year though, I'd say they'll have it as a special presentation on the Monday as usual. We also have the first doubleheader shown on ESPN Australia for the season on the 28th.

5th: Cavs @ Knicks, 11:30 AM
7th: Warriors @ Suns, 2:30 PM
12th: Lakers @ Jazz, 1 PM
14th: NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, 11 AM
14th: NBA Rookie Challenge, 1 PM
15th: NBA All-Star Saturday, 1 PM
16th: Presumably the All-Star Game from around 12 PM (Not Listed)
19th: Lakers @ Warriors, 2:30 PM
21st: Hornets @ Lakers, 2:30 PM
26th: Magic @ Knicks, 11:30 AM
28th: Bucks @ Hornets, 11 AM
28th: Cavs @ Spurs, 1:30 PM

March

5th: Spurs @ Mavericks, 1 PM
7th: Cavs @ Celtics, 12 PM
12th: Bulls @ Magic, 10 AM
14th: Hornets @ Bucks, 11:30 AM
19th: Heat @ Celtics, 10 AM
21st: Celtics @ Spurs, 11:30 AM
26th: Jazz @ Suns, 1:30 PM
28th: Bucks @ Magic, 10 AM

[CMJ3]

8th: Heat @ Nuggets, 1 PM

The first and probably the only Nuggets game for the season w00t!

[Andrew]

There always seems to be a couple of changes so you never know. There's also April and the Playoffs.

[Andrew]

I double-checked the online guide in the hopes they'd pick up the special edition of the NBA on ESPN this week but unfortunately not. A reminder to anyone who wants to catch the next couple of games, they're early tipoffs which means they'll actually begin at 9 AM (this Saturday) and 6 AM (next Thursday) Sydney time.