#NBLBlitz - What you'll find on opening night
After many months of Australian basketball being starved of their 'on-court' national product, the newly revamped NBL finally get the chance to put all of their off-court success into an exciting product on the floor.
The 2015 NBL Blitz tips off tonight and we have a guide for you to keep up to date with what to expect over the five hour stream.
New Live Stream Capabilities
The NBL have two ways for you to catch the NBL Blitz tonight and throughout the course of the week. The first is that you can sign up to stream.nbl.com.au and catch all the action via the NBL's website.
The other is that Fox Sports has their own landing page that allows you to watch every game live in Townsville.
Newly appointed production company CMS Australasia will produce the broadcast that is being played out of the Townsville RSL Stadium.
CMS Australasia were on full display when Ben Simmons and Louisiana State University were in Melbourne, as the production company live streamed the LSU vs. Melbourne United game at Hisense Arena for all of the Australian basketball public.
Expert commentary primed for the NBL season
The NBL have announced that Sydney Kings TV commentator Matt McQuade will join forces with Downtown's Liam Santamaria as the dynamic duo of the Blitz audio team.
With both individuals becoming quite familiar and popular figures amongst the NBL elite, this will pose as just the beginning of a pathway to determine the commentary team's of the future.
Be sure to turn up the volume or plug your headphones in as these two guys will certainly add value to your viewing pleasure.
A brief, but not in-depth look at four clubs
At 6pm AEST, the Cairns Taipans take on the Perth Wildcats in the opening game of the night. The Taipans will want to provide fans an early look at Markel Starks, their 6'2 point guard out of Georgetown who was brought into replace outgoing Scottie Wilbekin, who signed for NBA franchise Philadelphia.
However, while you may see more of Starks, you will see much less of the Snakes' other new signing Mark Worthington. With the former Melbourne United captain still nursing a knee injury, Wortho may not even see the court in the opening game of the night. Taipans captain Cameron Gliddon may also only see limited minutes after recovering from a corked thigh.
Perth will be without Damian Martin after re-injuring his calf that kept him out of the Australian Boomers Oceania series. Jermaine Beal may also miss after being rested throughout the pre-season.
New Zealand tackle the defending Blitz champions in the hometown Townsville Crocodiles in game number two of the night at 8:30pm AEST, which will be without a number of stars.
Thomas Abercrombie will sit out with a hamstring injury he suffered in a warm up game against the Sydney Kings. Alex Pledger is also on the sidelines after off-season foot surgery and is still hopeful of playing in the opening round.
Fast paced basketball with many highlight plays
With such a hype to kickstart the NBL season alongside some fresh looking faces to boot, the annual pre-season tournament will include another upgrade on face paced, high octane basketball.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJKh800odB0
Having such high calibre players only helps the league spread their wings out to the casual basketball fans; those that enjoy the slam dunk posters and buzzer beating triples. Expect to see a few across the course of the week.
A star on night one
In an addition to a previous point which mentions the exclusions of some big named players, this allows a shining light to burst through and provide one of the many talking points to come out of the evening.
The question is, can you pick who it will be?
Is your money on Markel Starks?
Reuben Te Rangi?
Jesse Wagstaff?
Shaun Bruce?
Clint Steindl?
Torrey Craig?
Let us know, enjoy night one of season 2015/16 folks! #NBLBlitz #HardBall