The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Schedule announced for 2017-18 season
Kevin Love and the Cavaliers will open the season against the Celtics at home, and host the Warriors in a Finals rematch on Jan. 15. Jeff Schudel breaks down this year’s slate.
The popularity surrounding the Cavaliers goes far beyond the walls of Quicken Loans Arena, where soldout games are the norm in the LeBron James era.
The NBA on Aug. 14 announced the 2017-18 schedule for every team in the league. The Cavaliers will be on national television 39 times in the 82-game regular season, beginning with the season opener at home against the Celtics at 8 p.m. Oct. 17 on TNT.
Ten games will be televised on ESPN, 12 on TNT, 12 on NBA TV and five on ABC.
For the third straight year the Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, who met for the NBA championship the last three years, will meet on Christmas Day. They dueled in Oakland in 2015, at The Q last year and this year will meet at Oracle Arena at 3 p.m. on ABC. The home game with the Warriors is on Martin Luther King Day on Jan. 15 at The Q.
The NBA season starts a week earlier than it has in the past to try to minimize coaches resting star players. The Cavaliers play back-toback games 13 times this season. They did back-toback games 18 times last year.
Four times last season, Coach Tyronn Lue rested LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love on the same night. The Cavaliers lost all four games.
Starting a week earlier makes the regular season nearly sixth months long. The final game of the regular season is at home on April 11 against the Knicks.
The longest road trip of the season involves playing six games in 11 days in March. It begins in Denver on March 7 and then moves to Los Angeles against the Clippers, Los Angeles against the Lakers, Phoenix, Portland and Chicago. The Cavs do not play backto-back in that stretch.
The long road trip follows the longest homestand of the season. It starts on Feb. 25 against San Antonio and also includes games against Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Denver and Detroit. There are no back-to-back games during that homestand, either.