MUMBAI: What had started as a struggle, ended in a sweeping win for Indiana Pacers. Once they had pushed the first game into over-time with less than 30 seconds to go, the Pacers broke away from the Sacramento Kings, and won the second of the pre-season games in Mumbai 130-106. They shrugged off the nine and a half-hour time difference, between Indiana and Mumbai, and the fatigue of the previous night to register a comprehensive win.
Thus ended the first-ever NBA India Games. The second game failed to live up to the over-time excitement of the first, but it was successful in fulfilling the mission statement. Of taking the Indian audience an NBA journey; where top-level basketball, commerce and celebrity rub shoulders effortlessly.
While legends like Larry Bird added weight to the occasion, Bollywood stars like Priyanka Chorpa and Farhan Akhtar added to the glitter, and kept the selfie-seeking fans occupied. But like the basketball, the atmosphere, mostly made up of adults, as opposed to the 3000+ kids that made up most of the audience on Friday’s opening night, was a little bit muted on Saturday as Pacers ran away with the game.
Despite Indiana Pacers coach deploying a second string side in the second game, they cracked open the Kings’ defence easily.
But the result mattered to a limited few on the day. It was all about the NBA breaking new ground in India and a whirl of inter-mingling cultures.
“It was amazing, being on the other side of the world and being so well received, it was humbling,” said Pacers star Myles Turner, who made five blocks, to add to his 12 points. “It was an honour to represent the Pacers, the NBA, ourselves and our families. Putting in a show was really cool, not just me, but both the teams. It was definitely a game that lot of people will remember.”
The NBA India Games were the American basketball League’s biggest leap in the Indian market and they pulled out all stops for it. Not just flying in the teams and their guests in on chartered flights, the NBA also flew in the hardwoord court, baskets and scoreboard to make sure everything at the Games was NBA standard. They also left with a promise that this was just the beginning.
On Friday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that NBA’s foray into the country will hopefully result in an Indian playing for an NBA or WNBA team and that they are looking to start a League within the next five years.
“I think our two most immediate goals are, one, to see the development of some top-tier talent coming out of India and where we would again see players coming into the NBA and WNBA,” said Silver. “There’s also an enormous pool of young women playing the game as well. And, two, serious consideration of the launch of a league.”
With the NBA hoping to prise open the Indian market, like they did with China and the players going back home with raving reviews of their short, wrapped in five-star treatment experience in India, it is almost certain there will be additional chapters to NBA India Games.