The release of the NBA schedule serves annually as the unofficial beginning to the upcoming season, even with over two months to go before regular-season play begins. With the who-what-where-whens all squared away, the actuality of the upcoming season comes into clear focus for the first time, and we’re here to make things even clearer with a few observations on the Warriors’ 2014-15 slate.
- Games by month: October – 1, November – 15, December – 14, January – 15, February – 11, March – 18, April – 8
- Games by day: Monday – 10, Tuesday – 13, Wednesday – 13, Thursday – 7, Friday – 14, Saturday – 14, Sunday - 11
- The Warriors will play in 19 total back-to-back sets (nine road/road, five home/road, four road/home, one home/home), and will have four instances in which they play four games in five nights (they had one such 4-in-5 last season).
- Golden State will make a franchise-record 19 appearances on national television (besting last year’s mark of 17), including nine games on ESPN, nine on TNT and one on ABC. Additionally, the Warriors—who were featured on ESPN Radio during the regular season for the first time ever last year (Jan. 30 vs. the Clippers)—are slated for four ESPN Radio games this season.
- The Warriors will open the season on the road for just the second time in 13 years (Oct. 29 at Sacramento). They’ve won three of their last four season openers, but have lost four of the last five in which they’ve opened the season on the road. Golden State has opened against Sacramento only once before, a 134-106 loss in Sacramento on November 6, 1987.
- The Warriors open the home slate on Nov. 1 vs. the Lakers, their second-straight home opener against the Pacific Division rival. In last year’s lidlifter, the Warriors earned a 125-94 win over Los Angeles, the 31-point victory representing the team’s biggest win against L.A. since April 23, 1994 (35 points).
- Last year, the Warriors opened the season by playing all three of their California brethren in the first three games, and they’ll come close to doing so again this season. After opening with Sacramento, the Warriors will host the Lakers and then, after a stop in Portland, will come back home to host the Clippers. It’ll be the fifth-straight season in which a game with the Clippers is among the first four contests on the schedule.
- When the Warriors meet the Rockets for the first time this season on Nov. 8, it will be the 200th meeting ever between the two teams. Houston has an 81-118 advantage in the all-time series.
- Golden State opens with 17 of its first 28 games on the road before coming home for 12 of the next 15 contests.
- The Warriors have a pair of season-long six-game home stands (Dec. 27-Jan. 9 & March 14-23), while their longest road trip is also a six-gamer from Feb. 22-March 2.
- Just two of the Warriors’ 11 games in the month of February will take place in the friendly confines of Oracle Arena.
- For the fourth time in five years, the Warriors will play on Christmas Day. For the third time in four years, they’ll be sharing the holiday with the Clippers, this time down in Los Angeles. The Warriors hold a 10-13 all-time record on Christmas, including a 105-103 win over the Clips at Oracle last season. As it happens, the Christmas Night matchup will mark the 200th meeting between the two franchises.
- In another holiday game, the Warriors host the Nuggets on Jan. 19 as part of the NBA’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration. The Warriors are 13-9 all-time on MLK Jr. Day, including a 13-7 ledger at home (since MLK Jr. Day became a national holiday in 1986).
- In addition to Christmas and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Warriors will also play on Easter this season when they travel to San Antonio to face the Spurs on Sunday, April 5.
- For a fifth-straight season, the Warriors will play Western Conference foes exclusively in the month of April, with the playoff push in full force. The last time the Warriors faced an Eastern Conference opponent in April was in 2010, when they began the month with games against the Knicks, Raptors and Wizards.
- The Warriors, who closed the regular season against Denver in 2013-14 for the first time ever, will do so again this year, the last of four-straight home games to end the regular-season slate. It will be the first time the Warriors have ended the regular season with four-straight at home since 1976-77 (they won the last three in that season-ending four-game homestand).
- The NBA scheduling format calls for the Warriors to play each Eastern Conference foe twice and all Western opponents four times, with the exception of four teams they’ll meet on only three occasions: Denver, Memphis, Portland and San Antonio. The Warriors, who’ve lost 31-consecutive regular-season games in San Antonio, will get just one crack at ending the infamous streak this season (April 5).