Bucks will open season vs. Celtics
The Milwaukee Bucks will begin the regular season at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18, at TD Garden against the Boston Celtics, according to the team. It was announced on Monday evening, along with the complete 2017-’18 NBA schedule.
Milwaukee’s schedule includes 18 games that will be available to a national audience, including 10 on ESPN and TNT. Those numbers are up from last season, when the Bucks played on national TV 11 times, with six on ESPN or TNT and five airing on NBATV.
Following the season opener, the Bucks will open their home slate with four consecutive games at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. The home opener, as announced this past Thursday, will be against the Cleveland Cavaliers at 6 p.m. on Oct. 20 on ESPN.
The Bucks’ early home stand, part of a home-heavy October schedule that includes just two road games in seven contests, will continue the
next day against the Portland Trail Blazers.
That game will be followed by contests against the Charlotte Hornets and Boston Celtics, with the home game against Boston airing on TNT.
Milwaukee’s back-to-back games against the Cavaliers and Trail Blazers represent one of 15 sets of back-to-back games this season, down from 17 in 2016-’17. The NBA, which shortened the preseason in order to start the regular season a week earlier, has made an effort to limit back-to-back games and has totally eliminated situations in which teams play four games in five nights.
Coming off their home-heavy start, the Bucks will hit the road for a four-game trip to open November. That swing will take the Bucks to Charlotte, Detroit, Cleveland and San Antonio, with the trip spanning from Nov. 1-10. It’s the first of two four-game trips of the month, as Milwaukee will close November with a West Coast swing through Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Sacramento and Portland. In all, the Bucks will be at home for just four of 13 games in the month — the lowest ratio of home vs. road games all season.
Those four-game road trips match the longest the Bucks will take all season. Milwaukee has another four-game road trip in early February and another in late March. The Bucks’ season-opening four-game home stand marks their longest stretch at home all season, with only two three-game home stands scheduled — one in November and one in December.
The schedule includes a visit from the reigning champion Golden State Warriors on Friday, Jan. 12, as well as a pair of home games against the three-time defending Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers on Oct. 20 and Dec. 19. Milwaukee also will visit the Washington Wizards for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee on Jan. 15 at 1 p.m.. The Bucks will close the season on the road against the Philadelphia 76ers on April 11 in a game that will be televised on ESPN.
Milwaukee will play each team in the Eastern Conference four times with the exception of Atlanta (2 home, 1 road), Brooklyn (2 home, 1 road), Miami (1 home, 2 road) and Toronto (1 home, 2 road).
The Bucks will play one of their 41 home games at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, a contest they have dubbed their “Return to the MECCA” game. The date and opponent for that game were not listed on the newly-released schedule and are expected to be announced at a later date.
Before the regular season gets going, the Bucks will play a shortened preseason schedule, down to four games from six last season. The preseason opener will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 2, in Dallas against the Mavericks.
Milwaukee will host preseason games against the Indiana Pacers (Oct. 4) and Detroit Pistons (Oct. 13) and go on the road for a preseason game against the Chicago Bulls (Oct. 6).