Tougher tussle for NBL’s US warm- up
ARON Baynes and his Boston Celtics have tuned up for a showdown with the Cleveland Cavaliers in a 108- 105 NBA home win over the Brooklyn Nets on New Year’s Eve.
Australian centre Baynes started and hauled down 10 rebounds to go with his five points and four assists as Kyrie Irving led the way with 28 points while Al Horford had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Eastern conference leaders Boston ( 30- 10) closed 2017 with a third straight win and now face a Wednesday home clash with LeBron James and his third- placed Cavaliers, a rematch of last season’s conference finalists.
Boston didn’t have the game in hand against the lowlyranked Nets until Irving made a pair of free throws with 7.7 seconds remaining.
In Phoenix, Ben Simmons turned in another big all- round game as his Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Suns 123- 110.
The Australian star grabbed 21 points, nine rebounds, six assists, three steals and three blocks.
Centre Joel Embiid scored 22 points in his return but forward Dario Saric led the way with his season- high 27 points for the 76ers who are 10th in the eastern conference.
In Washington, Bradley Beal scored 17 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter, leading the Washington Wizards to a 114110 come- from- behind win over the Chicago Bulls.
Beal scored 15 straight points for Washington in the fourth as the Wizards rallied from an eight- point deficit early in the period. He also had nine rebounds and tied a career high with nine assists. NBL boss Larry Kestelman has revealed only one Australian team looks set to partake in an NBA pre- season game in 2018.
On the back of the success of this year’s maiden NBA versus NBL matches involving Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Kestelman ( pictured) is determined to continue the concept.
However, with a reduced NBA pre- season expected in 2018, the NBL may have to settle for one game.
“T h e r e are no g a m e s c u r r e n t l y s e c u r e d , but I’m still very confident,” Kestelman said.
“Getting pre- season games is very difficult, but it is something we are working on with the NBA because I’d like to keep the tradition going.
“We will try and get more than one game, but it’s still a work in progress. Our goal is to turn it into an annual event, where at least one NBL team is part of the NBA preseason.
“I think it is important, not only from a publicity point of view, but to keep checking where we are at as a league and where our quality lies.
“We performed so well last time and surprised so many people, so we’d like to make sure it continues.”
Kestelman said he was yet to select an NBL team to play an NBA pre- season game in 2018. Back- to- back champions Perth, for example, could be a leading candidate given their proven form.
The Wildcats were originally selected to partake in this year’s maiden NBL versus NBA pre- season games, but declined the invitation to focus on defending their domestic crown.
It remains to be seen whether Perth change their mind if they are invited to play in an NBA pre- season game in 2018.
Kestelman said the NBL’s final choice of a team would come down to performance and the biggest market.
“In all honesty, the NBA wants to see the bigger cities coming and I think that is a fair comment,” he said.
“But at the same time they want to see the teams that are performing at the top of their game to ensure the games are high quality like they were last time.
“I think we would also have to access it depending on the timing as to who goes.”