The action starts a week earlier for the 2017-18 NBA regular season, a move
highlighted with Monday’s release of the complete game and broadcast schedule by
the league.
In a continued effort to reduce travel stress and provide players with more
recovery time, the season will be extended by a full week. Stretches where teams
play four games in five nights have been completely eliminated, marking the
first time in the NBA’s 72-year history with no four-in-fives.
> Complete 2017-18 NBA schedule
In addition to that unprecedented adjustment, the number of back-to-backs has
been reduced to 14.4 per team from 16.3 per team — an all-time low for the
third consecutive season. That’s a reduction in four-in-fives from 70 percent to
zero in three seasons and a 26 percent reduction (4.9 per team) in back-to-backs
during that same three-year stretch.
The season tips off Oct. 17 with an opening night doubleheader that includes the
Boston Celtics visiting the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first game and the
reigning champion Golden State Warriors hosting the Houston Rockets on the same
night they raise their second championship banner in three seasons and are
presented with their championship rings.
The final night of the regular season will be April 11, 2018. The schedule also
includes a weeklong All-Star break for a fourth year in a row.
The league released the opening week national TV schedule and the blockbuster
Christmas Day lineup late last week.
The Christmas Day schedule kicks off with the New York Knicks hosting the
Philadelphia 76ers at Noon on ESPN. The much-anticipated Finals rematch between
the Cavaliers and Warriors in Oakland headlines an ABC tripleheader at 3 p.m.
ET, followed by the Washington Wizards visiting the Celtics at 5:30 p.m. ET and
the Rockets visiting reigning Kia MVP Russell Westbrook and the new-look
Oklahoma City Thunder at 8 p.m. ET. The Minnesota Timberwolves and rookie
sensation Lonzo Ball and the Los Angeles Lakers wrap things up on TNT at 10:30
p.m. ET.
The second and final regular-season matchup between the Warriors and Cavaliers
will be part of TNT’s tripleheader on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday, Jan.
15), the start of Week 14. The network’s coverage will begin with the Memphis
Grizzlies hosting the Lakers (5:30 p.m. ET) and continue with the Warriors
visiting Cleveland (8 p.m. ET). In the final game, the Rockets will play the LA
Clippers in nine-time All-Star Chris Paul’s first visit to the Clippers as a
Rocket since asking to be traded to Houston in July (10:30 p.m. ET).
Earlier that day, NBA TV will feature a doubleheader that will see Charlotte
Hornets All-Star guard Kemba Walker and veteran big man Dwight Howard play at
the Detroit Pistons in the opener (12:30 p.m. ET), followed by Kawhi Leonard and
the San Antonio Spurs at the Atlanta Hawks (3 p.m. ET).
Yet another new wrinkle this season will see the league label each week, Monday
through Sunday, of the 1,230-game season, starting with that opening week and
finishing with Week 26. Week 1 features 14 different teams playing eight
national television games, as part of Kia NBA Tip-Off 2017, with TNT and ESPN
each airing two doubleheaders.
The third season of ABC’s NBA Primetime features eight games, scheduled for
Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. ET. The first of those is Jan. 20 with the Warriors
visiting the Rockets. The ABC series concludes April 7 with the Thunder visiting
the Rockets. The Feb. 10 Spurs-Warriors matchup at Oracle Arena in Oakland is
another highlight of the Primetime schedule.
The Lakers and Thunder kick off ABC’s five-game Sunday afternoon slate on Feb. 4
at 2 p.m. ET in Oklahoma City.
ESPN’s regular-season coverage will also include 21 Wednesday doubleheaders and
14 Friday doubleheaders.
TNT’s Players Only franchise returns for a second season, with its roster of
former NBA players in all broadcast roles, on Tuesday, Jan. 23 with a
doubleahder that starts with the Cavaliers making their lone regular-season
visit to San Antonio to face the Spurs in an 8 p.m. ET tip, followed by the
rekindling of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry at 10:30 p.m. ET. Players Only
telecasts will air on Tuesdays through April 3.
TNT will televise a total of 20 Thursday doubleheaders and 11 Tuesday
doubleheaders and will also air the NBA All-Star 2018 events Feb. 16-18 in Los
Angeles, culminating with the NBA’s 67th All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 18.
NBA TV’s regular-season coverage begins Oct. 21 with a doubleheader featuring
the Warriors playing the Grizzlies in Memphis at 8 p.m. ET and the Phoenix Suns
facing the Clippers in Los Angeles at 10:30 p.m. ET in the second game.
Sekou Smith is a veteran NBA reporter and NBA TV analyst. You can e-mail him
here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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