TV blackout provides bizarre NBL finish in Brisbane
The power was still on inside the arena but nobody could see it on TV in a bizarre finish to the Brisbane Bullets-Melbourne Unitd NBL clash.
On a night when both teams unleashed their firepower, combining to score 223 points between them, it was the power failing with three minutes left that was the talking point after Melbourne United’s win over the Brisbane Bullets.
It had already been an eventful night at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Thursday with United leading the Bullets 104-89 with three and-a-half minutes remaining.
But things then became bizarre when the television broadcast went blank as all the technical equipment inside the building lost power.
In the end, the power didn’t come back to allow the game to be seen on TV, but it played out in the building with Melbourne adding another 16 points and Brisbane 14 with United scoring the 120-103 bounce back victory.
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Bullets captain Mitch Norton always knew it would be a night to remember as he celebrated his 350-game milestone, but he didn’t expect he would be remembering it for this outlandish reason.
“I really got to soak it up for an extra half-an-hour or whatever it was,” Norton said.
“Obviously it wasn’t the way you want it to go, but at the end of the day, it’s a game of basketball and it’s not ever really about me specifically.
“I’m just a little frustrated with the result, but at the same time proud of the boys and how we showed we can compete in this league. As long as we believe that, we’ll be in a good spot.”
Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman said: “Obviously we were thinking that you can play basketball without TV, but I’m sure fans want to see it and all those kind of things, but we knew we had no coach’s challenges, stats or any of those things. We were just back out there playing basketball.”
