The Dubs’ title defense officially tips off on October 17. And with a new season a little more than two months away, here are a few observations and notes on the Warriors’ 2017-18 slate:
- Golden State will make 31 national TV appearances in 2017-18, a franchise record, with games scheduled on ABC (6), ESPN (13) and TNT (12)… In addition, the Warriors will make 12 appearances on NBA TV and have nine (9) games broadcast on ESPN Radio.
- The Warriors are opening the season at home for the 14th time in the last 16 years (the exceptions are 2012-13 and 2014-15)… Golden State will open against Houston for the first time since 2010-11, when the Warriors tipped off the campaign with a 132-128 home win.
- The Warriors own an all-time record of 4-0 in home openers following a championship season, most recently defeating the New Orleans Pelicans 111-95 to open the 2015-16 campaign.
- The regular season schedule will start eight days earlier than last season, with Golden State playing eight games in the month of October – its most contests in October since appearing in 11 games in October in the 1980-81 season.
- The Warriors and Cavaliers will meet in NBA Finals rematches on Christmas Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day for the third consecutive year… The teams will play in Oakland on Christmas and Cleveland on MLK Jr. Day, the inverse of the schedule last season.
- Golden State will make its fifth-straight Christmas appearance, marking the seventh time in the last eight years that the Warriors will play on Dec. 25… The Warriors are 11-15 (.423) all-time on Christmas, including an 89-83 win over Cleveland the last time the two teams met on Christmas Day at Oracle Arena (2015).
- The Warriors are playing their 17th Martin Luther King Jr. Day game in the last 18 years (the exception was 2012) in another holiday rematch of the NBA Finals… The Warriors are 16-9 (.640) all-time on MLK Jr. Day since the holiday was first observed in 1986, including a 126-91 win vs. Cleveland on MLK Day in 2017… Golden State has won its last three games played on Martin Luther King Jr. Day dating back to 2015.
- As part of the NBA’s efforts to decrease back-to-back games and eliminate instances of four games in five nights, the Warriors have 14 back-to-back sets in 2017-18 (down from 17 last season) and no instances of four games in five nights (down from one such occurrence last season)… Of the Warriors’ 14 back-to-backs, three are home back-to-backs (both games at Oracle Arena), the team’s most such home back-to-back sets in a single season since the 2012-13 campaign.
- Golden State’s longest homestand is seven games around the Christmas holiday from Dec. 20-Dec. 30, its longest homestand since 2012-13… The Warriors’ longest road trip is a six-game stretch from Nov. 29-Dec. 8.
- The Warriors will play two games against all Eastern Conference teams and four games against all Western Conference opponents with the exception of four teams that they’ll meet only three times: Houston (one home, two away), Memphis (two home, one away), Minnesota (two home, one away) and Portland (one home, two away).
- Throughout the course of the season, the Warriors will travel 50,310 miles (down from a total distance of 54,436 miles last season).
- The Warriors will play four of their last five games on the road, including the season finale at Utah… Golden State closes its season on the road for the first time since 2013-14 (at Denver).
- Tip-off time for all of Golden State’s weekday home games during the 2017-18 season will be 7:30 p.m., while home games on Saturday and Sunday will tip off at 5:30 p.m. (except the Christmas Day matchup with Cleveland, which is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.).
- Games by day of the week: Monday – 14, Tuesday – 8, Wednesday – 13, Thursday – 10, Friday – 13, Saturday – 17, Sunday – 7
- Games by month: October – 8, November – 14, December – 15, January – 14, February – 11, March – 14, April – 6
- Golden State will play on Easter Sunday for a fourth consecutive season, hosting the Phoenix Suns on April 1. The Warriors are 9-7 all-time (6-1 at home) on Easter Sunday, including a win over Portland in Game 1 of the First Round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs.