Hear, hear, basket ball enthusiasts! For the first time in four years, the Toronto Raptors will return to Montreal on October 14 to face the Boston Celtics in a preseason game.
This will be the sixth preseason game in Montreal since 2012. Fans will be able to purchase tickets starting August 19.
The matchup at the Bell Center will take place 12 days after the Raptors’ exhibition game in Edmonton against Donovan Mitchell and the Utah Jazz.
The matchups will mark the eighth edition of NBA preseason games in Canada. These events last took place in 2019 in Vancouver, where the Dallas Mavericks beat the Los Angeles Clippers.
“It’s a great pleasure to be able to play again in front of fans across Canada,” Raptors general manager Bobby Webster said in a statement. We can’t wait to get back to Montreal and play a first game in Edmonton. It’s a wonderful reminder that we are the all-Canada team. »
The Raptors most recently played in Montreal on October 10, 2018, winning 118-91 over the Brooklyn Nets.
That evening, in front of 20,526 people at the Bell Centre, a Chris Boucher hired a few months earlier was inserted into the game with 7:07 on the clock.
He missed three shots, before hitting twice from three-point range. The crowd loved it, chanting the name of the Montrealer.
The Raptors capped off this campaign by becoming NBA champions for the first time in franchise history.
Montrealers in the NBA
Led today by Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet, among others, the Raptors have Montrealers Boucher and Khem Birch in their ranks (in the NBA, Quebec is also represented by Luguentz Dort of the Thunder and Bennedict Mathurin of the Pacers, both Montrealers) .
Scottie Barnes was the NBA Rookie of the Year for 2021-22, and the Raptors also have Gary Trent, OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa and Toronto’s Dalano Banton, among others.
Eastern champions in 2022, the Celtics have among their key players Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart.
“We can’t wait to take part in the event and play in front of Montreal fans,” Celtics president Rich Gotham said in a statement.
“We salute the NBA’s continued efforts to boost the popularity of basketball. »
The Oct. 2 game will be the NBA’s first appearance at Rogers Place. The Jazz also counts on the Ontarian Nickeil Alexander-Walder, cousin of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, star of the Thunder.
The NBA Canada Series began in 2012 in Montreal, with a preseason game between the Raptors and the New York Knicks.
A total of 14 clubs took part in 14 such matches across five provinces, playing in front of more than a quarter of a million Canadians.
On the hockey side, the Montreal Canadiens will begin their regular season on Wednesday, October 12 at the Bell Centre, against Toronto. On October 14, the team will visit the Detroit Red Wings.
The Raptors will also play preseason games on October 5 and 7, in Boston and Houston, as well as October 9 in Toronto, against the Bulls.
Their training camp will be held from September 26 to October 1 in Victoria.