NBA in Montreal: Timberwolves Defeat Celtics, Robert Parish in Town, Sun Youth New Court

Minnesota Timberwolves defeated Boston Celtics in front of 20,000+ at the Bell Centre | THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Lets be honest, an NBA team in Montreal? Forget about it.

But a yearly game during the exhibition season is more realistic. Thanks to NBA canada, we have had three games in the past four years; this year it was a weekend event. First, the NBA donated a new court to the Sun Youth Organization–one of the best basketball and charitable organization in the province of Quebec.

NBA Big Tour was in Montreal over the weekend
NBA Big Tour was in Montreal over the weekend

The event featured the presence of Celtic great Robert Parrish, who was the center of arguably the best frontline in NBA history with Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, that won three NBA titles in the 80’s.

On Saturday, the “NBA BIG Tour” set up a court at the South Shore Mall, Les Promenade St Bruno. There was a three-point contest, slam dunk contest with the Minnsota Timberwolves mascot and dancer on hand to entertain the fans.

I was asked to MC the event and introduce Parrish to the public with a Q&A that lasted almost an hour. Parrish was also a judge for the Dunk contest that was won by Yoann lefty Folquet.

The main event had ‘superman’ sitting court side–Montreal’s own boxing world champion Adonis Stevenson. The Boston-Minnesota match up had more than 20,000 spectators, as Minnesota defeated the Celtics 104-89.

The Wolves should be a playoff team this year and the play of Kevin Love (game MVP, 22 points) and Ricky Rubio dazzled the crowd with some great passes, that were very appreciated by the Montreal fans.

Boston is in year one of a rebuilding franchise, with new players, new staff and a new Head Coach in Brad Stevens, who seems to have the respect of his players…but from my front row seat I could see that the person who demanded the most respect was Rajon Rondo.

Montreal would love an NBA team I’m sure, and by the looks of the new Bell Center basketball court and basketball support,  I would love it too.

But in the words of legendary reggae singer Bob Marley, Montreal has only ONE LOVE, Le Canadien.

Its was a great weekend of basketball, and thanks to the NBA, see you next October.

PS, I’m sure the Harlem Globetrotters will be excited to finally play on an NBA court on their next and only visit in april.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.