2013-2014 Official NBA Thread

[Al Bundy]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/ey...4-nba-schedule

With the Schedule released today, I figured it would be a good time to start the thread.

The NBA released its 2013-2014 schedule on Tuesday in a televised special on NBATV alongside a release on NBA.com and its team websites.

The season kicks off Tuesday, October 29th as Miami hosts the Chicago Bulls in Derrick Rose's expected return to the court. Then it's the Battle of LA as the Lakers host the Clippers. It could be the return of Kobe Bryant from his Achilles injury he suffered last spring, and will be the regular season debut of Doc Rivers as the Clippers' newest head coach.

It's a massive gamble by the NBA, considering Rose's struggles returning from his ACL injury suffered in the 2012 playoffs and Bryant's more recent Achilles surgery. If those players were to miss the opening night, it's going to make for a very underwhelming opening night of basketball, regardless of the markets involved for ratings.

Opening week continues on Thursday with the Bulls hosting the Knicks in what is likely to be Rose's return to the United Center in the regular season. The Knicks will be on a back to back, opening the season on Wednesday vs. the Bucks. Thursday night the revamped Warriors visit the Clippers, who are clearly the hot team, with two national appearances in the first three days.

Opening week concludes Friday with the Nets' home opener vs. the Heat, followed by another Lakers home game, this time vs. the defending Western Conference Champion San Antonio Spurs.

On the NBA's biggest regular season day, Christmas Day, starts with the Nets hosting Chicago, followed by the scoring-champ rematch of Carmelo Anthony vs. Kevin Durant as the Thunder visit Madison Square Garden to face the Knicks. Then in the main event, the Heat play the Lakers at Staples Center. Dwight Howard joins the Christmas fun as the Rockets travel to San Antonio to face the Spurs. And in the night cap, the Clippers visit Oracle Arena to take on Steph Curry and the Warriors.

Monday, January 20th continues the NBA's tradition of making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a huge basketball event, with four games on the schedule. Brooklyn travels across the bridge to take on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, followed by the Grizzlies hosting the Pelicans, the Lakers taking on the Bulls at the United Center, and the Pacers facing the Warriors in the bay to cap off the night.

The Lakers first meet Dwight Howard on November 13th in Houston, and again on January 14th. They first host Howard at Staples Center on February 19th, and again on April 8th.

The NBA Finals rematches occur on January 26th in Miami and March 6th in San Antonio. Will Gregg Popovich rest his starters? It's not a back to back, as the Spurs face Atlanta on the 24th, but it is in the middle of a three-game road trip.

Despite the departure of Dwight Howard, the Lakers keep the max number of nationally televised (non-NBA TV) games in the league at 25, tied with the Knicks and Heat. The Clippers have 21 nationally televised games, while the defending Western Champs, the Spurs, only have 15. The Bulls jump to 24 national games, with the league banking on Rose's return to carry audiences. The Thunder also feature on national TV 24 times.

Houston, with newly-signed Dwight Howard and James Harden, feature 20 games on national television, a pretty low number given the star power. The Mavericks won the NBA title in 2011, and now have just eight national TV appearances. The Warriors meanwhile jump to 17 games, while Eastern Conference finalist Indiana only appears 10 time next season. To put that in perspective, the Denver Nuggets appear 13 times.

The rest of the schedule is at the link.

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by mcaj22

and the Cavs are still losing. Deng is 1-10. Feel bad he went to that garbage mess

This is as pathetic as it gets. lol Now Steve Nash comes from the locker room in his uniform? wtf

That Blake 3 won thegame for the Lakers. Damn it. THey need to lose.

[mcaj22]

i think Brown benched the Cleveland starters in the negative for what looks like an awful first quarter lol. He's been playing these bench scrubs a long time lol

[dirk digler]

Portland - Trailblazers in fantastic OT game on ESPN. Would love to see these 2 teams in the Finals

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

Definitely a great game!

Rockets can move within 2 of Blazers.

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

Lakers should have tried harder to lose

[dirk digler]

Lilliard is a stud

[dirk digler]

GEORGE!

[dirk digler]

Big win for the Pacers to keep a 3-game lead over Miami

[O.city]

Pelicans gonna be a good team in a year or two

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

Portland - Trailblazers in fantastic OT game on ESPN. Would love to see these 2 teams in the Finals

Originally Posted by dirk digler

Lilliard is a stud

Originally Posted by dirk digler

Big win for the Pacers to keep a 3-game lead over Miami

Definitely, would be a highly entertaining series.
That's two Portland-Indiana games this year.
Series tied 1-1.
Pacers 220, Trail Blazers 219.
One overtime.

[Al Bundy]

Another turd performance. All the way down to 7th place, I hope they miss the playoffs and do a complete rebuild.

[KevB]

Heat lose to Utah? Good grief.

[mcaj22]

starting west PG couldn't even hang with Dragic tonight. Total snub there.

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

Clippers-Sixers

[greatgooglymoogly]

Originally Posted by Rudy lost the toss

Clippers-Sixers

As of when this was posted, the 76ers were:

9-56 FGs, for 16.1%
1-16 3FGs, for 6.3%
14-15 FTs (WTF), for 93.3%