Silver calls All-Star weekend in Toronto 'a homecoming'
By Associated Press
Feb 12, 2016 10:40 AM CST
FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 18, 2016 file photo, National Basketball Association commissioner Adam Silver, addresses the media at the S.A.Y. Detroit Play Center in Detroit. The first All-Star weekend held outside the U.S. is another success for Commissioner Adam Silver. And while things are going well,...   (Associated Press)

TORONTO (AP) — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has opened All-Star weekend by paying homage to the league's history in Toronto.

Silver spoke Friday morning at the NBA All-Star Technology Summit, and began his remarks by reminding attendees that the league's enormous success globally stems in part from what happened in Toronto on Nov. 1, 1946 — when the first game in what was then called the Basketball Association of America was played.

Silver is calling this weekend "a very special one for us in the NBA, a homecoming."

It was in Toronto on that night nearly 70 years ago when the New York Knicks visited and beat the Toronto Huskies 68-66. The game was played at Maple Leaf Gardens — "which, if you're curious, is now a grocery store," Silver says

.