The Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics will square at the Bell Centre for a pre-season game.
The NBA will be coming to Montreal on October Friday, October 14th for a pre-season game featuring the Toronto Raptors and the Boston Celtics at 7:30 pm. Catching this game is a superb way to start off your weekend and why not include early supper plans and a night out after the game? You might as well go all out and besides, you work hard all week you deserve the right to go wild too.
MontrealNightlife.com can help arrange your entire night from transportation to skipping lineups at the nightclub and getting bottle service. If you live outside of Quebec, we can book your flights and hotel rooms at incredible rates that beat whatever you will find online.
Montreal’s NBA Players
Basketball’s popularity in Montreal has steadily reason over the years and the desire to have our own NBA team is extremely strong. During the 2022 NBA draft Montreal was elated to hear that twenty-year-old Bennedict Mathurin was drafted sixth overall by the Indiana Pacers from the University of Arizona in the NCAA. Mathurin is the highest-drafted NBA player in Montreal’s history. Moments like this only encourage more kids to follow and play the sport because it suddenly feels like there is always a chance you can make it to the big leagues. Mathurin is not the lone Montrealer to play in the league this year as he joins Chris Boucher and Lugentz Dort.
All three players come from the Montreal North region of the city which is a rougher and poorer neighborhood. Chris Boucher will be returning to Montreal on October 14th with the Toronto Raptors and is sure to receive an ovation for his accomplishments. Boucher is also the only Montrealer to have won an NBA championship playing with the Raptors in the 2018-2019 season and the Golden State Warriors in the 2017-2018 season.
Lugentz Dort made it to the NBA the hard way by going undrafted in 2019 and signing a two-way contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder and earning a full-time roster spot the following season. Dort cashed in this year signing a five-year deal with the Thunder worth 87.5 million dollars. Dort has come a long way from the mean streets of Montreal North.
Throughout NBA history, a total of nine players have been drafted to play at that elite level. This current flow of Montreal basketball players making a splash in the NBA is welcome news and helps further push our city’s quest for a team of our own.
Why Montreal Loves The NBA
Although Montreal does not have a team of its own the love for the NBA has never wavered and has grown every year. Who can resist watching the Celtics and Lakers of the eighties led by Larry Bird and Magic Johnson? Then in the nineties, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls became household names and the team of choice in Montreal. Jordan helped inspire a generation of basketball players in Montreal and around the world.
Who Are The Toronto Raptors?
The Toronto Raptors came into the NBA alongside the Vancouver Grizzlies in 1995. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001 while the raptors were able to stay in Canada and become the only team across the nation. The Raptor’s history has not always had success, but they have certainly created many fans in Montreal who were seeking to root for a Canadian team. The Raptors had legendary players like Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady that attracted plenty of eyeballs to the north of the border.
The Raptors surprised the entire league and the world in 2019 going on a historic run led by the likes of Kyle Lowry and Kawhi Leonard, winning the NBA Championship over the daunting Golden State Warriors. Although Montreal despises their hockey rivals the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal could not help getting swept up into the “We the North” and the Raptors championship run supporting them like they were their own.
Who Are The Boston Celtics?
Montreal’s hatred of the Boston Bruins is also quite common in our city but when it comes to the Boston Celtics there is a huge fanbase in the city. The Celtics are one of the NBA’s most iconic and successful teams who have won seventeen championships since their inception.
Fans will undoubtedly treat this preseason game like a playoff game cheering on their respective teams. Montreal is hungry for an NBA team and every year they have sold out the pre-season games we have been offered. It is a matter of time before Montreal gets their team and before you know it, we will be talking about season tickets and which players to watch out for.
An Alternative For The Nba In Montreal
The NBA is not in Montreal yet but there is a professional team called the Montreal Alliance that plays in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. The Alliance plays at the Verdun Auditorium and has attracted plenty of fans to keep the team alive. Watching the Alliance is a fantastic opportunity to watch upcoming Basketball players who might become NBA players in the future and at the least, you will watch competitive games in an intimate environment.
