LONDON — When asked about his enthusiasm level for this week’s journey across the Atlantic, coach Jason Kidd didn’t do much to sell Thursday’s matchup between his Nets and the Hawks at O2 Arena.
“It’s just another game,” he said.
Judging by the reaction around London, however, few people even know there’s a game happening at all.
Bartender Brad Roper at O’Neill’s Irish Pub had a bemused look when asked if he knew anything about the NBA holding a game in London this week.
“Hadn’t heard a thing about it,” he said. Then, he asked, “Who is playing?”
One of the patrons at the bar, Martin Murphy, said he hadn’t heard about the game being played either.
“I don’t really follow the NBA,” he said. “But I had no idea they were playing.”
A stop into Ladbrokes, the popular off-site betting shop — where you can legally bet on both racing and a wide variety of sports, including basketball — showed an equal lack of interest in the game.
While you can bet on the game — as well as on either the Nets (40-1) or Knicks (66-1) to win the NBA title if you’re a true believer, or simply a glutton for punishment — one of the workers there, who requested not to be named, said they haven’t received any interest in the game over the past two days of work.
“We do get a decent amount of action on NBA games,” the worker said, “but I haven’t seen anything on that game yet.”
It isn’t entirely surprising there’s little buzz about the game. England is engrossed in its love for soccer, which dominates the media coverage inside the country in ways even the NFL in the United States can’t match. There also is little history of success in the sport within the country, as just two NBA players — Cleveland’s Luol Deng and Portland’s Joel Freeland — are currently on the national team’s roster, and the only two Olympic trips for the country’s national team came in 1948 and 2012, both years when London hosted the Olympic Games, which guaranteed the national team a spot in the tournament.
On top of that, because of the five-hour time difference between London and the East Coast of the United States, games that tip off at 7 p.m. local time in New York don’t begin until midnight in England – with West Coast games often not starting until after 3 a.m.
“We never show basketball games here,” Roper said, adding they show more popular local sports like rugby and cricket, in addition to soccer, instead.
It doesn’t seem like they’ll lose any business for failing to do so, either.