However, the energy for a few games will be higher than your ordinary Tuesday-night-in-February matchups due to rivalries or the novelty of seeing a player for perhaps the final time (Kobe Bryant).
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The Chicago Bulls announced the 2015-16 scheduled today. Two nights later they play in Denver, followed by their home opener on November 2nd vs. the Blazers. Golden State will receive their championship rings before that game. The Warriors travel to New York to play the Knicks on January 31. This is all you need to know about the strength of the Lakers’ brand – as bad as they were last season, for all the questions about the one coming up, you can’t get them off the Christmas Day card.
The Cavaliers beat the Bulls in six games in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season, a result that marked the end of Tom Thibodeau’s coaching tenure in Chicago.
Something else that will be new this season is the addition of ABC games on Saturdays. Kevin Durant, who was injured for a good portion of the 2015 season, will be expected to begin his new season the next night, as Oklahoma City will host the Spurs.
Christmas Day highlights five nationally-broadcasted games: Pelicans at Heat (ESPN), Bulls at Thunder (ABC), and the Cavaliers at the Warriors (ABC) in an National Basketball Association Finals rematch. (That doesn’t count the NBA’s preseason games in Vancouver, Milan, Madrid, Winnipeg, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Ottawa, Rio de Janeiro and Montreal.) The Celtics will play games in four countries this season – Spain, Mexico, and of course the United States and Canada. Back-to-backs were also trimmed to an all-time low of less than 18 per team. One of the Bulls’ best wins of last season came in Oakland in an overtime win over the Warriors. The league has not made the move to pull the season start-date back while reducing the preseason, but that determination could be made next year. Those have been reduced significantly, by nearly 25 percent, VanDeWeghe said.
The Atlanta Hawks, who were the No. 1 seed in the East and won a franchise-record 60 games last season, are on ESPN, ABC or TNT eight times. Four-in-fives have been cut to an average of less than one per team.
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With the plague of injuries the league has dealt with over the past three years and consistent complaints from players, coaches, and general managers over the amount of compressed games, the league finally made adjustments to the schedule which should at least help in significant ways. The Knicks play the 76ers at home.
