League gives Warriors the Lakers as Christmas gift
Fourth straight year Warriors will see him on the holiday
Good news for Bay Area basketball fans. That guy with the beard will be visiting again on Christmas Day.
No, not Santa. LeBron.
The NBA on Wednesday morning released its schedule for the first week of the 2018-19 season, Christmas Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Warriors will open the season on Tuesday, Oct. 16, at 7:30 p.m., hosting Oklahoma City on the back end of a TNT doubleheader (Boston hosts Philadelphia in the first game). Which means for the second year in a row the Warriors will hand out championship rings and unfurl a banner on a national telecast.
The Warriors hit the road for their second game — on Friday, Oct. 19, against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City.
For the 11th consecutive season, the NBA is presenting a Christmas Day schedule. For the sixth consecutive season the Warriors will be involved (they split games against the Los Angeles Clippers in 2013-14). It will be the fourth consecutive Christmas against the Warriors for James, who will be fronting a new supporting cast — the Los Angeles Lakers.
James’ Cleveland Cavaliers played three consecutive Christmas games against the Warriors in rematches of the previous season’s NBA Finals. While James continues his holiday tradition, the Cavaliers will be free this year for presents, dinner and the “A Christmas Story” marathon.
Other Christmas matchups include Boston at Philadelphia, Milwaukee at New York, Oklahoma City at Houston and Utah at Portland.
Then comes Martin Luther King Jr. The Warriors will see a familiar face on Christmas Day — LeBron James — when they square off against the new-look Lakers.
Day and surprise! The Warriors and Lakers have another holiday date, this time in Los Angeles. New Orleans at Memphis and Houston at Philadelphia round out the MLK Day tripleheader.
• The Warriors hired Rick Celebrini as director of sports medicine and performance on Wednesday. He replaces Chelsea Lane, who left last month to take a similar position with the Atlanta Hawks.
Celebrini is a sports and orthopedic physiotherapist who spent the past eight years as head of sports medicine and science for the Vancouver Whitecaps FC of MLS. He also has been affiliated with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks since 2014.
In 2004, Celebrini co-founded the Fortius Institute, a Canadian athlete development center. He was the team physiotherapist for the Canadian men’s ski team at the 1994 and 2002 Winter Olympics.