Twelve players were members of the 2017 Western Conference All-Star team, which
outlasted the East squad 192-182 in February. Six of those well-known basketball
names will be on the Smoothie King Center hardwood Oct. 20, in an extremely
star-studded home contest for the New Orleans Pelicans.
This evening the NBA announced its slate of marquee games for the opening week
of the 2017-18 regular season, including a meeting between defending NBA
champion Golden State and New Orleans. The game will take place Friday, Oct. 20,
and will be broadcast nationally by ESPN. Tip-off for Warriors-Pelicans will be
at 8:30 p.m. Central.
Joining perennial New Orleans All-Star bigs Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins
will be Golden State’s quartet of All-Star performers. That group includes
Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant – who combined to win three consecutive league
MVP trophies from 2014 to 2016 – as well as Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.
Although Golden State went 4-0 vs. New Orleans in ’16-17, the Warriors have not
yet faced the Pelicans with Cousins in uniform. Three of those Warriors
victories last season came prior to a midseason trade involving Cousins, while
the fourth occurred in April, after Cousins and Davis had been kept out of the
lineup for precautionary health reasons.
The full NBA schedule for 2017-18 is expected to be released next week. Adam
Silver recently announced that the regular season for the league overall will
begin Tuesday, Oct. 17. It is the earliest the NBA regular season has begun
since the 1980-81 campaign, partly to increase rest for players and reduce the
number of back-to-backs each team will play.
The league also announced the five-game Christmas slate, which features
Philadelphia-New York; Cleveland-Golden State; Washington-Boston;
Houston-Oklahoma City; and Minnesota-L.A. Lakers.
Player: DeMarcus Cousins
Player: Anthony Davis
Media Content:
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eature-half-2017-west-all-star-team
Media Keywords: NBA, Sports, New Orleans Pelicans, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony
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Taxonomy: 2017-18 schedule, NBA, pelicans
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eature-half-2017-west-all-star-team
