Scheduling makes Euro expansion hard
But judging from London game, fans are crazy for NBA.
LONDON — If Adam Silver learned one thing from his latest trip to London, it’s that the appetite for more NBA games remains huge around Europe — and the rest of the world.
And while the league commissioner would love to satisfy that appetite, there is still an Atlantic-sized gap between the NBA’s desire for overseas expansion and what’s actually doable.
So while the NFL continues to stage multiple regular-season games each year in London, European basketball fans may have to continue to settle for just one.
“We’re considering bringing additional games to Europe,” Silver said before Thursday’s game between the Celtics and 76ers at the O2 Arena. “It’s just the logistical challenges for us are so much greater (than for the NFL). The demand is there and the interest is there. It’s really more a question of our schedule and whether we can make it work.”
The NBA has been staging regular-season games at the O2 since 2011 in an attempt to grow the game in Britain and worldwide. And the interest in this latest edition was sky-high. Tickets sold out in under an hour and were going for multiple times their face value online, with soccer stars and other celebrities sitting courtside.
Journalists from Australia, France, Germany, Turkey and Africa all had the same question at Silver’s pregame news conference: When will the NBA bring regular-season games to their part of the world?
“We would love to do it,” was Silver’s universal answer — before outlining the scheduling difficulties that hamper any such plans. The Celtics and 76ers had at least four days off before and after Thursday’s game in order to cope with the travel.
“This game, as you all know, sold out in less than an hour, and the reason it even took 52 minutes was the limitation of technology in terms of how fast people could enter their credit cards and buy the tickets,” Silver said. “We could easily sell out two games, three games, four games.”
Silver pointed to arenas in Paris and Berlin as possible venues for future games, but said he couldn’t offer a “specific calendar” for when it might happen.
■ Celtics 114, 76ers 103: Kyrie Irving had 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds as Boston overcame a 22-point deficit to beat Philadelphia in the eighth regular-season game played in England.
Boston extended its winning streak to seven games.
JJ Redick had 22 points for the 76ers.
Sixers center Joel Embiid, a Cameroon native, said he loved the experience of playing internationally.
“For me to come here, I appreciate these types of moments. I’m really (upset with) myself that I didn’t have a good game,” said Embiid, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds. “I really want to come back to change that. But I feel that it’s a good opportunity, and the last couple of days that I’ve been here I loved it.”
Wednesday’s Games Thursday’s Games
(At) Raptors 133, Cavaliers 99: LeBron James and struggling Cleveland absorbed their most lopsided loss of the season. The Cavaliers have dropped six of eight dating to a Christmas Day defeat at Golden State. James scored 26 points in this loss, while Isaiah Thomas missed his first 11 shots. Fred VanVleet scored a career-high 22 for Toronto. Clippers at Kings: Late
Spurs at Lakers: Late
NBA notes
Warriors: Kevin Durant became the 44th player in NBA history to score 20,000 career points, finishing with 40 in the Warriors’ loss to the Clippers on Wednesday. Durant, 29, is the second-youngest player behind LeBron James to reach the 20,000-point mark. The NBA Finals MVP returned from a three-game absence due to a strained right calf and scored 25 points in the first half against the Clippers — Durant’s biggest half of the season and the exact number he needed for 20,000. Durant reached the milestone on a pull-up jumper from the left wing at the 1:41 mark of the second quarter.
Clippers: Lou Williams scored a career-high 50 points to help Los Angeles beat host Golden State on Wednesday for the first time since Christmas Day 2014. Williams shot 16 for 27 with a career-best eight 3-pointers and made all 10 of his free throws.“He ordered 50-piece nuggets on us tonight,” Durant joked. “Lou got it going.”
Hornets: Coach Steve Clifford was medically cleared to return to coaching on a full-time basis. The team said Thursday night that Clifford will officially re-join the Hornets starting with practice Tuesday and will return to the sideline Wednesday night against Washington. Clifford has been away since Dec. 6 dealing with a health issue.