TORONTO – The National Basketball Association (NBA) will hold its second annual NBA Canada Series when the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves play a preseason game at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, on October 20.

The NBA Canada series, which tipped off for the first time last season with a game between the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks in Montreal and the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons in Winnipeg, will once again celebrate basketball with live NBA action, interactive fan events and community outreach programs designed to develop further the game in Canada.

“The NBA Canada Series captures the unique experience of a live NBA game for our fans outside of Toronto, and helps fuel the increasing interest in our game across the country,” said Dan MacKenzie, Vice President and General Manager, NBA Canada. “Montreal is a great sporting city and we look forward to returning this year with another exciting match-up.”

Tickets for the game will go on sale Saturday, June 15, through the Bell Centre box office at (514) 790-2525 or evenko.ca.

The Boston Celtics tipped-off their 2012 season with preseason games in Turkey and Italy as part of NBA Europe Live, which they also participated in in 2007 on their way to winning the 2008 NBA Finals.  The Celtics also played two preseason games in Spain in 1988.

The Minnesota Timberwolves played a preseason game in Winnipeg as part of the 2012 NBA Canada Series.  The team has also played preseason games in the Dominican Republic, Turkey, UK and France as well as regular season games in Japan.

The 2012-13 NBA season featured eight Canadians on team rosters, 21 total Canadians have played in the NBA.  Five Canadians have been drafted into the NBA in the last two years.

About the NBA in Canada
The NBA, founded in 1946, is a professional sports league and global business that features 30 teams in the United States and Canada. During the 2012-13 regular season, more than 200 games were broadcast nationally in Canada on TSN, TSN 2, The Score, Rogers Sportsnet, Sportsnet One and NBA TV Canada.  The NBA has 11 marketing partners in Canada with adidas, Cisco, Electronic Arts, Foot Locker, Gatorade, Nike, SAP, Spalding, Sprite, State Farm and Take Two Interactive. Through NBA Cares, the league, its teams and players have donated more than $220 million to charity, completed more than 2.5 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 805 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play.