Crowds returned to watch Basketball at Hisense Arena for the first time since Melbourne United’s disastrous performance against the Cairns Taipans one week ago, The crowd who turned up for the Melbourne United vs New Zealand Breakers game were treated to a video which shows all the past Victorian teams before the Melbourne logo appears which will no doubt upset fans of past (and hopefully soon to be current again) teams who do not want their history being used by the Melbourne United Ballers in any self promotional way, reaction to this video was mostly quiet except a huge roar erupted around the Arena when it was the Melbourne Tigers turn to be ‘honoured’.

Melbourne United were then introduced onto the court at Margaret Court Arena as the Melbourne United Ballers which will no doubt win the team ‘Worst Team Name’ in any awards ceremony that has it as a category although people can now say that the team name matches the name of the mascot for example the Tigers had Tigerman and the Magic had Magic Man etc, Melbourne had a sizable crowd at the game although most of the crowd sat at the sides and not at the scoring ends of the court, depending on their season this will probably be rectified with greater attendance but it may be some time before the Ballers threaten Perth’s crowd sizes and before then a new Melbourne team should be in the competition, the downsides reported were that entertainment during breaks needs further work while also reporting that the crowd wasn’t into the game to the point that they were appearing bored with one spectator being seen sleeping during the game.

In the game itself, the Melbourne United Ballers made the most of their opportunities as their shots hit the mark often while New Zealand’s went all over the place except where it was supposed to be which was the net, The win for the Ballers did not bring many Melbourne Tigers fans joy even if they want to be happy that Melbourne won it is hard to do so and will be for a long time but it the win will do Darryl McDonald’s chances good to coach the Ballers next season if his style of coaching brings continued results.