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Sellout crowd to watch first NBA game in Taipei

The Indiana Pacers’ Danny Granger signs a T-shirt for a fan in Taipei yesterday at an event organized by World Vision Taiwan in support of the victims of the Typhoon Morakot disaster. PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES

A sellout crowd of 16,000-plus is expected at the Taipei Arena this evening for the first on-court appearance by two National Basketball Association (NBA) teams in Taiwan.

The Indiana Pacers and the Denver Nuggets will face off in an exhibition match at 7:30pm, the first stop of their two-city roadshow that concludes with a match in Beijing on Sunday.

“We are all very excited to be in this part of the world to play this great game of basketball,” Nuggets head coach George Karl said before a team practice session at the Taipei Arena yesterday afternoon.

He will try to carry last season’s success into the 2009-2010 campaign. The Nuggets flourished in the postseason by winning their first two series before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

While the Pacers did not enjoy as much success as the Nuggets last year, with a 36-46 record that was only enough for a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference Central Division, they are aiming to make it into the playoffs for the first time in four years this year with the help of newcomers such as Tyler Hans­brough and A.J. Price, as well as established stars Dahn­tay Jones and Solomon Jones.

“We will focus our effort on defense this year, since our offense has been doing quite well, and hopefully that will help us get back to the playoffs this year,” Pacers president of basketball operations and NBA legend Larry Bird told the Taipei Times yesterday.

To present Taiwanese fans with an authentic NBA game experience, league officials arranged to have the entire playing court flown into Taipei from the US, from the wooden floor and the players’ bench to the goalposts.

Other game-related personnel, such as cheerleaders and the league-designated security crew that add up to more than 300 people, were also flown in from the US to ensure the most authentic experience possible.

NBA commissioner David Stern is also scheduled to make an appearance at a press conference hosted by Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) this afternoon.

The 4,000 available open tickets for today’s game were sold out 15 minutes after they went on sale in June, despite prices that ranged from NT$800 to NT$12,800.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA

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