Saints Set At Home
Tagged in: Competitions, NBL
The Century City Wellington Saints will get the chance to extend their undefeated record at their TSB Bank Arena home in next week’s Dominion Finance NBL Finals after all.
After negotiations between Basketball New Zealand, Sky Television and Saints management, games two and three of the 2008 NBL Finals series were confirmed for the Saints first-choice home venue this afternoon.
As the highest ranked team for the Finals, Wellington would host games two and three, originally scheduled for next Thursday and Friday but now bumped back to Friday and Sunday.
TSB Bank Arena was unavailable for game two on Thursday and the Saints pushed for a change to the series schedule to allow them to host games at their 3500-seat stadium, where they have gone 10-0 this season.
“Venue availability for the NBL Finals has been hugely problematic with a number of stadia unavailable at different times,” Basketball New Zealand CEO Dale Stephens said.
“With the kind assistance of Sky TV, we have come up with a compromise that still allows TV coverage with no changes to home court advantage.”
The winner of Friday night’s Waikato Pistons-Youthtown Auckland Stars second semifinal in Te Awamutu will host game one of the 2008 NBL Finals on Tuesday, with the Capital getting game two on Friday night and game three, if necessary, on Sunday night.
“These changes could only be negotiated once we had a clearer picture of who the finalists were,” Stephens said.
“We are delighted to help the franchises who often struggle to get access to multi use facilities at short notice. Teams work hard to get home-court advantage and this resolution is good for the League and the game of basketball.”
2008 Dominion Finance NBL Finals Series
Game One
Tuesday, June 17, 7.30pm
Waikato Pistons or Youthtown Auckland Stars vs Century City Wellington Saints
Venue TBC
LIVE on Sky Sport
Game Two
Friday, June 20, 7.30pm
Century City Wellington Saints vs Waikato Pistons or Youthtown Auckland Stars
TSB Bank Arena, Wellington
LIVE on Sky Sport
Game Three*
Sunday, June 22, 7.30pm
Century City Wellington Saints vs Waikato Pistons or Youthtown Auckland Stars
TSB Bank Arena, Wellington
LIVE on Sky Sport
* if necessary
