Nick Piccone
The Sixers and Celtics games this upcoming season will be exciting as hell to watch, but at least one game between the two teams won’t be played in either Philadelphia or Boston. According to a report from the Boston Herald, the Sixers and Celtics will travel to London on January 11th and play in the O2 Arena.
No, not London, Ontario, Canada. London, England.
According to involved sources, the Celts will meet the 76ers in London next January. The schedule for the coming season is expected to be released next month, with the league’s Global Games potentially being announced prior to that.
The Celtics-Philadelphia matchup will be a regular season affair — not an exhibition — and will be a 76ers home game. That means Philly fans will have one fewer opportunity to see Jayson Tatum and Markelle Fultz, the third and first overall picks from last month’s draft, respectively, involved in the major pre-draft trade between the clubs.
The game will be on Thursday, January 11th at The O2 Arena, the same site where the Celtics met Minnesota in a preseason game in October 2007.
The NBA’s Board of Governors met to come up with ways to improve game flow, which is how this news leaked. Some notes:
- The 2017-18 season begins earlier and the schedule with stretch more days.
- Teams will have seven timeouts per game, not nine. They can use only two timeouts in the last three minutes of the game.
- All timeouts are now 75 seconds.
More here.
UPDATE 8/10/17: The Sixers have confirmed they’ll play the Boston Celtics in London this year.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – AUGUST 10, 2017 – The Philadelphia 76ers will play in the NBA London Game 2018 on Thursday, January 11 against the Boston Celtics at The O2 Arena, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) announced today.
The game will mark the league’s eighth regular-season contest in London and the Sixers’ second game in the U.K. following a 2013 preseason tilt in Manchester against Oklahoma City.
The Sixers and Celtics will square off twice in the preseason; once in Philadelphia (October 6) and once in Boston (October 9). The Atlantic Division rivals will then meet four times in the regular season, including the NBA London Game 2018.
Tickets for the game will go on sale in October 2017. Fans can register their interest for tickets to the NBA London Game 2018 and gain access to personalized content, presale information and more by visiting NBA.com/London.
The game will be televised locally on CSN Philadelphia, the team’s television partner and can be heard on the team’s radio partner, 97.5 The Fanatic.
Reports have the Sixers being the home team for this game … so, yep, prepare for the outrage of losing a home game in Philly.
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