National TV attention for defending champions

In the NBA, winning breeds TV exposure.

And so it will be in the 201718 season, when the Warriors are scheduled to make a franchise-record 31 appearances on national TV.

The NBA announced its complete schedule Monday — it had released its opening week lineup and the Christmas Day games last week, both of which involved the defending-champion Warriors.

Golden State is scheduled to play six games on ABC, 12 on TNT and 13 on ESPN. With an eye toward cutting back on the number of back-to-back sets and eliminating stretches of four games in five nights, this season begins eight days earlier than last year.

Last year, the Warriors had 17 sets of games on consecutive days; this season that number drops to 14.

Golden State opens defense of its second title in three years with an Oct. 17 home game against Houston — and new addition Chris Paul — before going on the road for games at New Orleans, Memphis and Dallas.

One of the more intriguing games is a Nov. 22 stop at Oklahoma City, which hopes the acquisition of four-time AllStar Paul George will fill the void opened when Kevin Durant joined the Warriors last season.

The Warriors’ longest road trip of the season is a six-game stretch that begins Nov. 29.

The payoff for that will be a three-week run beginning in mid-December in which the team plays nine of 10 at Oracle Arena — including seven in a row — and the lone road game is a quick flight to play the Lakers in Los Angeles.

In the middle of that is the Christmas Day game against Cleveland. The Warriors and Cavs — who have met in the past three NBA Finals — will also play in Cleveland on Martin Luther King Jr. Day ( Jan. 15).

The Warriors, who have had the NBA’s best record in each of the past three seasons, play five of their final seven regularseason games on the road, beginning with a March 31 stop in Sacramento.

The regular season ends with an April 10 game at Utah.