Basketball On The Internet.

THE basketball talk in Adelaide today has focused on two things – the 36ers’ excellent Game 1 semi final win over Melbourne and why only 3,865 of the Sixers’ faithful made it to The Fortress.

Fans outside the state have been quick to pounce on the “most knowledgeable” reputation of the Adelaide crowds and anxious to use the poor showing as some reflection on that status.

The fact is, the NBL and the 36ers are to blame for the poor attendance for what was a truly great spectacle and here’s why.

For starters, scheduling the game on a Thursday was dumb. Matches throughout the regular season in Australia only were played on Friday-Saturday-Sunday.

So now finals roll around and all bets are off? Whack it on a Thursday cause the sheep will surely wander in?

Well they didn’t.

Thursday is late night shopping in Adelaide for one. It is a school night for another.

A 7pm tip-off accommodates or assists who, exactly?

So for the NBL and/or Adelaide to go with a Thursday night and with a different start time already were recipes for trouble.

Historically tickets sales for the first round of finals matches – be they quarter-finals in those heady days of many more clubs, or semi finals – usually are poor.

Fans often will play a game of wait-and-see, meaning they are more likely to be there for a Game 3, or for Game 1 of the next round, in this case that being a Grand Final.

At last report, sales were unusually slow in Perth for tonight’s game against Wollongong and the Tigers were having issues for Sunday’s match at Hisense with tickets moving glacier-pace.

More than likely The Jungle ultimately will have a big crowd tonight – but then it is Friday, a night fans are used to going to the basketball.

But back here in Adelaide, all the elements were in place for a down attendance last night.

Believe it or not, the world at large does not have unlimited disposable income and with a sell-out already confirmed for the first AFL Showdown between Port Adelaide Power and the Adelaide Crows to open the new, revamped Adelaide Oval tomorrow, you know some families already were out of the NBL equation.

So while I am unsure whether it was the NBL’s idea to play the game on a Thursday and Adelaide agreed – which I doubt it did willingly considering every day mattered in the recovery from injury of captain Adam Gibson – that decision already sabotaged any shot at a sell-out.

Playing Game 1 of the 36ers-Tigers tonight made way better sense. Even for the live TV aspect.

Just as Sunday is a “double-header” out of Hisense and the WIN Entertainment Centre, tonight could just as easily have been as well.

Voila. Instantly add at least another 1,500 to the Adelaide Arena crowd.

But here’s the other thing you just can’t do – raise your finals ticket prices ad hoc.

Sure, everyone does it and we can all agree a “final” should carry greater gravitas than a regular season fixture.

But to what extent?

The 36ers’ prices went from $33 for an adult in the Gold section – under the concourse – to $45, concession tickets from $30 to $40.

A child went from $15 to $25 and a family leapt from $66 to $100.

And let’s never forget the ubiquitous “booking fees”.

So let’s weigh it all up.

*The game is on a school night and one on which there has been no other NBL fixtures in Adelaide in 20 years, so you have instant resistance.

*It is also late night shopping across Adelaide.

*There is a Showdown to open Adelaide Oval, which has been force-fed to the masses for a fortnight.

*Ticket prices additionally jump.

*And, lest we forget, the game is also being shown LIVE on free-to-air television in all markets, including the local market.

Oh yes, it was a real shock the attendance was down. … Not.

The build-up could not have been better, with television and radio running stories all week, print media right behind it and our daily newspaper yesterday running a back page picture, a big preview and also a story in the front of the paper in the general section.

You can’t say fans didn’t know it was on.

But when you add the ability to watch it at home on TV to boot, well, come on now.

Let me tell you this ahead of time.

If the Adelaide-Melbourne series goes to a Game 3, expect another poor crowd on Tuesday.

Basketball has never been played on a Tuesday here and, again, it is a school night.

It would be on live TV.

Roll in those more expensive ticket prices on the same night as the cinemas offer “half price night” (I could have gone with Tight-arse Tuesday but I didn’t want to offend your sensibilities) and you have the recipe for a lot of empty seats.

Why they just didn’t go with Friday-Sunday-Wednesday – middle of the week and some historical significance with games played there in the past -  remains a mystery.

But the poor attendance? That’s no mystery.