Dominant hosts Australia win double basketball golds at 2018 Commonwealth Games; Indian contingent return winless

Before the first jump-ball was tipped up, all signs already pointed towards Australia to be a dominant force at the 2018 Commonwealth Games basketball tournament. Both Australian Men and Women's squads had won the gold on home soil the last time basketball featured in the CWG back in 2006. Both squads had already made a mark on the Olympic stage, the Asian basketball stage, and of course, in the regional Oceania bracket. Now, at the 2018 edition of the tournament in Gold Coast, they had the home support and the talent to secure the golds once again.

And that is exactly what happened. Over the weekend on April 14-15, Australia's Women and Men both won their respective finals at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre in the last two days of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in impressive fashion. Both finished their outings at GC2018 undefeated.

Australia's Women's squad played their final on Saturday, April 14, against England and blew past them for an easy 99-55 win, led by Kelsey Griffin (16) and Cayla George (16).

Australia's Men won their final with similar ease, using a balanced offensive attack to defeat Canada 87-47 on Sunday, April 15.

New Zealand won both bronze medals at GC2018 Basketball. NZ's women - led by Natalie Taylor (18), Charlisse Leger-Walker, and Micaela Cocks (18) - beat Canada 75-58 on Saturday. Ceejay Noefuente had 18 for Canada in the loss. NZ's men needed a strong 26-point performance by Thomas Abercrombie to beat Scotland 79-69 on Sunday.

While Indian athletes at Gold Coast generally enjoyed a lot of high points and success during the Commonwealth Games, the same couldn't be said about the basketball squads. Despite giving themselves several weeks of preparation and naming the best-available healthy players in both the Men and Women's teams, India returned from Australia having lost all of their games in both divisions.

Led by Serbian coach Zoran Visic, India's women's team featured many of the heroes from the FIBA Asia Cup second-division triumph, including Jeena Scaria, Grima Merlin Varghese, Raspreet Sidhu, and Rajapriyadarshani Rajaganapathi. Missing in action was India’s most experienced player and captain, Anitha Paul Durai. But taking charge in her absence will be the hero of the Kazakhstan final herself—Shireen Limaye—who has been handed captain’s mantle and will hope to inspire the squad to more heroics at this prestigious stage.

India got off to a fraught start against Jamaica. Despite staying neck to neck with their opponents all game, India never quite had the extra level to push ahead. Jennifer George scored 19 for Jamaica in a 66-57 win, while India were led by Limaye's 18.

India's biggest disappointment would probably be the Game 2 loss to Malaysia, who are familiar rivals on the Asian stage that India has often defeated in the post. It was an up-and-down game, with India trailing only by four before the start of the final quarter. But Malaysia finished with a flurry and raced away to an 85-72 win. Fook Yee Yap scored 18 for the winning side while India were led by Scaria's 19 points and 13 rebounds.

India's final game was another loss to eventual bronze-medallists New Zealand. NZ outscored India 31-12 in the first quarter and kept a command of the game throughout, cruising to a 90-55 victory. Cocks scored 21 for the winning side.

India Women ended the tournament 0-3, knocked out out of the preliminary round.

Coach Rajinder Singh was at the helm of India's Men's roster, which came headlined by internationally experienced bigs like Amjyot Singh, Satnam Singh, and Amritpal Singh. Amritpal, unfortunately, injured his ACL in the run-up to the tournament and was ruled out. India were already shaky in the backcourt in the absence of the injured Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi. The development of another big, Aravind Annadurai, provided some hope for the national squad. Experienced forward Yadwinder Singh was named the team's captain.

Led by Amjyot (23), India got off to a strong start in their first game against Cameroon, even leading by 24 points halfway into the contest. But Cameroon weren't deterred, and led by Arnold Akola Kome (21) and Robert Songolo Ngijol (17), made a memorable comeback to tie and then overturn India's lead. In the end, India stared down a massive collapse as Cameroon held on to win 96-87.

The collapse took fizzled out India's energies, and the team played uninspired in their second game, a 100-54 loss to England. Adam Thoseby had 20 points for the winning side while Annadurai showed some flashes of offensive prowess for India, ending with a game-high 22.

India played better against Scotland in their last game, trailing just by 8 at halftime. But a 29-11 third-quarter run by the Scots snatched the game away, and despite a late run by India, it wasn't enough to avoid the 96-81 loss. Scotland's top player was Nicholas Collins (16). India's trio of bigs came up huge in the loss, led by Annadurai (27 points, 14 rebounds), Amjyot (26 points), and Satnam (16).

Like the Women, India's Men also ended 0-3 and were knocked out of the preliminary stage.

CGW-2018 Final Standings

Women

• 1. Australia
• 2. England
• 3. New Zealand

Men

• 1. Australia
• 2. Canada
• 3. New Zealand

India's Men and Women's basketball contingent departs for Australia early for 2018 CommonWealth Games preparation

It took twelve years for the CommonWealth Games (CWG) to bring back basketball. For India, the wait has been so long that our basketball contingent couldn't help but get to the sporting extravaganza a little early.

The 2018 CommonWealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia (GC2018) are set to be held from April 4-15, 2018, and will welcome more than 6,600 athletes and team officials from 70 Commonwealth nations, taking part in a total 18 sports and seven para-sports. In preparation for their participation in first CWG basketball tournament since Melbourne in 2006, India will be sending its entire basketball contingent - both Men and Women's squad - to Australia three weeks before the ahead of the start of the main event, on Monday, March 12.

The BFI announced India's final Men and Women rosters, India's groups and schedule for the 2018 CommonWealth Games on Sunday.

Indian players will be on a exposure and training trip at the Runaway Bay Super Sports Centre in Queensland. Yadwinder Singh was announced as captain for the Men’s Team, he is the only player for India who will be playing in his second CWG. Shireen Limaye was selected as the captain for the Women’s Team. At the tournament itself, the games will be held at the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre and the Cairns Convention Centre.

2018 CommonWealth Games Basketball Groups

Men

• Pool A: Australia, Nigeria, New Zealand, Canada.
• Pool B: England, Cameroon, India, Scotland.

Women

• Pool A: Australia, Canada, England, Mozambique.
• Pool B: New Zealand, Jamaica, India, Malaysia.

India's Basketball rosters for 2018 CommonWealth Games

Men

• Ravi Bhardwaj
• Arvind Arumugam
• Satnam Singh
• Arshpreet Singh Bhullar
• Aravind Annadurai
• Akilan Pari
• Justin Joseph
• Jeevanantham Pandi
• Yadwinder Singh - Captain
• Joginder Singh
• Amritpal Singh
• Amjyot Singh
• Head Coach: Rajinder Singh
• Coach: GRL Prasad
• Manager: Shakti Singh Gohil

Women

• Shruti Menon
• Madhu Kumari
• Navaneetha Pattemane Udayakumar
• Rajapriyadarshani Rajaganapathi
• Raspreet Sidhu
• Bhandavya Hemmige Mahesha
• Grima Merlin Varghese
• Anjana Prasannan Geetha
• Jeena Scaria
• Shireen Limaye - captain
• Anmolpreet Kaur
• Barkha Sonkar
• Head Coach: Zoran Visic
• Coach: Shiba Maggon
• Manager: Ajay Sud

India's Preliminary Round Schedule - all timings IST

Men

• April 5: Cameroon vs. India - 3:30 PM
• April 7: England vs. India - 2:00 PM
• April 8: India vs. Scotland - 5:30 PM

Women

• April 5: Jamaica vs. India - 2:00 PM
• April 7: Malaysia vs. India - 2:30 PM
• April 5: India vs. New Zealand - 1:30 PM

The Indian Women's team enter this tournament after last playing at the FIBA Asia Women's Cup at home in Bengaluru, where a balanced squad won Division B in dramatic fashion. The likes of Scaria, Limaye, Raspreet Sidhu and rising star Varghese are likely play important roles for the squad.

The Men's team feature two players who controversially missed the FIBA World Cup qualifying window games a few weeks ago - Amjyot Singh, who is playing in the NBA G-League, and Amritpal Singh, who played in Australia's NBL. Alongside them, other big names returning for the national squad include India's first NBA draft pick Satnam Singh, Aravind Annadurai, and experienced captain Yadwinder Singh. All of the players named in the official team list will be heading to Australia tomorrow, except for Amjyot who is expected to see out the season with his G-League team OKC Blue before joining India.

International Basketball Association: Will Adam Silver's promise hold true for the NBA's global expansion?

Nearly a month ago in London, on the eve of the NBA's now-annual 'Global Games' regular season matchup - featuring the Milwaukee Bucks and the New York Knicks this year - NBA Commissioner Adam Silver made an eyebrow-raising statement to the English media. With an eye on the future of global sports leagues, Silver said that he wants to launch four European franchises, adding that, "It is our manifest destiny to expand."

Between the time that David Stern - Silver's predecessor - took over the helm of the NBA in the early 80s till Silver succeeded him last year, the NBA's global face has changed drastically. The league has become one of the most profitable and lucrative worldwide and its biggest stars have brand name recognition across all the continents. Over the past decade, the NBA Global has pushed the league into further reaches, bringing NBA teams and stars closer to international fans than ever before.

Now, on the week of the NBA All Star Weekend where two Spaniards (Pau and Marc Gasol) will be the game's starters, the Rising Stars Challenge will feature a USA vs. World game, international players will take part in the weekend's several smaller events, and Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan will become the first Indian to play in the All Star Celebrity Game, the question of this 'manifest destiny to expand' is sure to be posed ahead of Commissioner Silver again. In London, Silver spoke about expanding the game to Europe, but eventually, the Asian markets like China, Philippines, and potentially India will also shape the changing international nature of one of the world's fastest-growing leagues.

During the Global Games in London, Silver had admitted that the NBA had fallen behind in expansion schedule to the NFL, who have plans to start a franchise in England. "It will be easier logistically for them to pull it off," said Silver, "It would be difficult for us to have one team in Europe. We’d have to put both feet down. That would mean having four franchises in Europe."

Via the Guardian

He said that the arena infrastructure was improving across Europe with US-style arenas in place or under construction in England, Germany, France and Spain.
"We’re not there yet. I know that as much growth as we’ve seen, we have a long way to go before we can sustain four franchises in Europe,” said Silver, who has worked at the NBA since 1992. “On the other hand, I believe it’s our manifest destiny to expand."

Because of the talent and infrastructure in many European countries (excluding England, who are relative minnows in basketball), the continent is an obvious next shore if the NBA is to expand its borders across North America. It Silver's words are to hold true, the European expansion may still be up to a decade away. But is a sports league separated by the great distances of the Atlantic Ocean truly feasible, no matter how efficient and comfortable modern day travel may get? The time zone differences could add another caveat to the plans. Of course, there have been arguments that the NBA and Silver are getting ahead of themselves here, especially when there are more suitable markets in North America that deserve and are more primed to host an NBA team.

Still, the winds of change - and the future - are inevitable: the reality of the future is a smaller, flatter world, where business - including the business of playing sports - will become more global.

While the NBA's first steps as explorers of an expanding league seem to be in Europe, it is China and India - if the two massive populations are able to iron out their creases - that might end up being the most profitable future endeavours. In present day India, infrastructure, mismanagement, and organizational problems are clear red flags against any NBA dreams. Additionally, India has to first show that they can launch and handle our own basketball league before the NBA can even glance in this direction. Still, we are talking of decades into the future now, and Silver's comments about Europe may yet prove to be a foreshadow of the eventual reality by the middle of the 21st century.

The NBA isn't expanding anywhere outside of North America anytime soon, but - whether or not it is still under Adam Silver's leadership - the expansion will eventually happen one day. And by then, we'll have an international basketball association for a truly international sport.

NBA + London = Winning

When was the last time you saw the entire basketball world excited about a Raptors-Nets game? No seriously, when? Back in the Vince Carter/Jason Kidd era, probably. I admit, I've always had a soft spot for the Raptors before my favourite player from 10 years ago, Carter, turned a little too soft himself.

But last week, the two teams fighting each other for the battle of the worst team in the Eastern Conference became part of history. On back-to-back games over the weekend, the Nets and the Raptors made NBA history, as the first ever NBA regular-season games were held in Europe, at the fantastic O2 Arena in London. The venue had previously played host to a few pre-season games, including a Lakers-Timberwolves match-up before this season, but a regular season game, where players play hard because it matters, is a wholly different issue.

So what if the two teams had a combined all star - Deron Williams, recently brought to New Jersey from Utah - to boast? The rest of the 'big' names in the match-up included former number one pick and Italian Andrea Bargnani, slam-dunk participant DeMar DeRozan, underrated but dominating big man Brook Lopez, and Kris Humphries who is famous because he has a famous girlfriend, who in turn is famous for being famous. At least the two teams had similar (awful) records coming into the game - Nets at 17-43, Raptors at 17-44. Of course the games were going to be competitive.

Anyways, the two games benefited many different parties:

1) The two teams, underrated back in North America, got a little international exposure and experience.
2) NBA fans in England, who may otherwise be too busy watching football, rugby, or cricket, finally got a chance to see a meaningful game in their own backyard.
3) England's 2012 Olympic campaign got a major boost, as the organising committee got the chance to hold two high-quality (relatively), close games, and thus create more hype for the Olympic basketball tournament featuring the best international teams in the world that will be held at the same venue next year.
4) Me, and other NBA fans in India, got the opportunity to watch the extra two games broadcast live on TV, taking last week's toll of live games to SEVEN. Awesome.
5) Famous people, and people who live famous people: Like any NBA game, the celebrities game out to support the London NBA Games, and as we all know, whatever celebrities like, the rest of the world follows. In the audience for the two games were football players from two of London's biggest clubs - Peter Cech, Didier Drogba, David Luiz (Chelsea) and Jack Wilshere, Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas, and Gael Clichy (Arsenal). A couple of famous Non-Resident-Indian Punjabis - Monty Panesar of the English Cricket team and Canadian Nav Bhatia, the Raptors' Super Fan and entrepreneur - completed the mix.
6) The NBA

Yes, the NBA were clearly the biggest winners. For a long time, David Stern has been mulling over the possibility of expanding the NBA to Europe. What that means hasn't really been exactly clear: Does he mean to have NBA franchises in Europe? Does he mean to play more regular season games there? Or will he be able to launch his pet project - a five-team European division within the league? All of the ideas above have various drawbacks, including the crazy travelling involved between the two continents, the finances involved in launching any kind of ambitious project between the NBA and Europe, and the organisational difficulties in managing it.

Yet, if this was the first major test for Stern to see if the NBA could work in Europe, it has succeeded. Many fans in London may not be completely well-versed in basketball yet (Check this out from the CNN report: in order to make sure anyone new to basketball understood what was going on, an announcer explained who the players, teams and coaches were and gave a commentary to explain the scoring to the crowd.) But at least they showed up and a majority enjoyed the action. I mean - its NBA basketball - who cares if it's just Raptors vs Nets - it's gonna be fun, right?

The two teams played hard, too. The Nets became the most successful NBA team ever, in London, as they won both high-scoring games. In the first contest, Brook Lopez dropped 25 points to lead the Nets to a 116-103 win. The second was a classic, as the teams battled way into triple-overtime, showcasing to London every emotion and piece of action that involves amazing NBA games. Lopez was again the star 34 points and 14 rebounds, while Europe's sweetheart Bargnani had 35 points for the losing side. Travis Outlaw stepped up in the end to seal the win, scoring the last 8 points for the Nets.

Now looking ahead, I'm not sure I approve or disapprove of what the future of the NBA holds in store across the Atlantic - it is hard to say since it is still early days and no one is sure exactly how things are going to develop. But it was a successful exhibition for the NBA and for basketball in England.

The NBA's now held regular season games in England and tonnes of pre-season games in other parts of Europe, South America, and South-East Asia. But what about us? About 11 months ago, I wondered if the NBA could ever hold a pre-season game in India. As a great open market, it would make sense. But we are far, far, faaaaaar behind in our infrastructure and organisation. Does anyone remember the Commonwealth Games? Yea - I don't think Suresh Kalmadi and David Stern would be a compatible partnership.

But, the NBA will send us something one day. The Cavs, maybe. An NBDL side? A WNBA side? Something. It's going to happen though. I know it...

A tale of three leagues

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It's a tale of three leagues, in three countries, of three sports.
1. National Basketball Association (NBA) - Basketball, USA
2. English Premier League (EPL) - Football, England
3. Indian Premier Leauge (IPL) - Cricket, India

India has a total of ONE succesful professional sports league: the IPL. ONE. Like it or hate it, but that's the truth. Hell, even many cricket purists hate it, disregarding the Twenty-20's format as 'real' cricket.

Whatever - we aren't here to argue about what cricket should be. We're here to talk about what the IPL wants to be. The IPL wants to be the NBA, and it has wanted to be the NBA for quite some time. It is no secret that the league format, the franchises, the cheerleaders, the dugout (or "bench"), the player profiles, the "strategic" time-outs, the advertising frenzy, the television broadcasts, etc in the IPL have borrowed heavily from the NBA and even the EPL. Sorry football fans, but in many ways financially, the IPL has actually overtaken the EPL. According to the inaugural Annual Review of Global Sports Salaries (ARGSS) (later published on sportingintelligence.com), IPL became the second highest paid league in the world this year, overtaking the EPL. You know what's it second to? The NBA.

Even NBA Commissioner/Tsar/Maharaja David Stern become a fan of the IPL last November. In an interview with DNA-Mumbai, Stern said, "We are closely watching as to how the IPL has been a game-changer in sport. It has adopted a number of Western sporting practices like the franchise system, player bidding, the home-and-away games, double-headers and the like."

Now, IPL may take yet another page out of the NBA book. After adding two new franchises to the existing eight in the IPL, the BCCI is looking to change its format to finish the tournament in the same seven-week period as the previous three IPL editions. Until IPL-3, each team played each other team twice, home and away, to play a total of 14 matches each, which meant that a grand total of 60 matches were played. If the same format is continued for 10 teams, 94 games would have to be played. The BCCI don't want that because they have a time constraint.

One of their options is to do with the NBA does: Divide the teams into two groups (NBA-read: Conferences) of five. Like the NBA, the teams in the same conference play each other three or four times, whereas teams in opposing conferences play each other twice, once home, and once away. Each team plays 82 games in the regular season. In the IPL, the proposition is that each team plays other teams in its groups twice (home and away) and the teams in the group once.

Good idea, but it does create problems. Home advantage is something that teams obviously rely on, so on what basis will the home games be played in the inter-group games?

The other idea I feel is worse, which is to have the same round-robin system in the two groups, and then the best teams move on to a 'Super Six' stage and they all play each other. With this format, there are many teams who may never get to play each other, and that completely defies the whole point of being a league.

My solution is this: screw the groups. Don't follow the NBA, follow the EPL. Have all teams play each other home AND away like the current system. Play 94 games. I can hear the groans already: there aren't enough days to fit these many games. Or the groans from TV broadcasters: we can't show more than one or two games a day because TV ratings will take a hit.

I don't see why the league can't be expanded to take a longer time. This way, it will become less of a quick tournament and more of a 'season'. Yes, international cricket clashes will cause a problem, but just like international breaks in the football season, the IPL can incorporate their season around cricket international breaks, too.

And it's fine to glamourise our leagues just as media has done it in the US, but their needs to be a limit, and that limit is crossed when the sport is overshadowed by celebrity and marketing culture. I searched for 'ipl' in Google-Images, and you know what I got? Three of the first four photos are of Katrina Kaif, Preity Zinta, and Shah Rukh Khan. The first cricketers don't show up till the eight pic. Even Vijay Mallaya scores earlier.

If we are truly looking to bring a sports league/season culture such as that in the USA, Europe, etc into India, our leagues have to be bigger, last longer, and be ABOUT THE SPORT. It is laughable that the second-richest league in the world lasts just seven weeks.

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