The NBA released the schedules for the 2015-16 season on Tuesday and snarky people made jokes about whether certain teams would have 82 games or not.
Jokes aside, it is worth looking over the Indiana Pacers schedule’ for the upcoming season to see where and when some of the most important and most intriguing games will take place.
The Pacers and Miami Heat will renew their rivalry on Nov. 6th when Indiana plays host, then hit the road to Cleveland on Nov. 8 to play their old foe, LeBron James. Indiana’s first game against the Chicago Bulls is on Nov. 16., and the Bulls come to Indiana on Nov. 27. Pacers fans will have to wait until Feb. 1st to see LeBron against Indiana at home.
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As far as back-to-backs go, Mark Montieth of Pacers.com pointed out that the 17 Indiana has this year is quite favorable.
"The first thing most players, coaches and general managers tend to do when their team’s schedule is released is to tally the back-to-back sets, which are as good an indicator as any of a schedule’s degree of difficulty.The Pacers have 17 of them, a relatively low number. They had 17 last season as well, but 20 two seasons ago and 21 three years ago, if the three consecutive games they had to play as the result of a weather-caused cancellation counts as two."
If you are looking forward to when the Pacers will deal with some old friends you’ll have to wait until Nov. 13th when Indiana hosts Damjan Rudez and the Minnesota Timberwolves. But of course the two players Indiana’s fans are the most eager to see again are Roy Hibbert and David West; the Pacers head to Los Angeles on Nov. 29 to face the Lakers and will be on the road as well for the Dec. 21 game against David West and the San Antonio Spurs. Hibbert comes home on Feb. 8 and West will return to Bankers Life Fieldhouse on March 7.
The hardest part of the season comes after the All-Star Break when when Indiana plays 10 games over 15 days with seven of them on the road as well as a trio of back-to-back games. In order, the Pacers will face the Thunder, Magic, Heat, Knicks, Hornets, Trail Blazers, Cavaliers, Bucks, the Hornets again and then the Wizards.
Indiana will have 14 nationally televised games, up from eight last season. Both home games against the Heat on Nov. 6 and Dec. 11th will be on ESPN, as well as the Jan. 13 game against the Golden State Warriors. Jan. 22 at the Atlanta Hawks, Feb. 5 on the road in Oklahoma City, and finally a home game against Cleveland on April 6 are on ESPN as well.
Indiana will be on NBATV for five games starting with hosting the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 21. Other NBATV dates include a road game in Miami on Jan. 4, at Cleveland on Feb. 29, at Atlanta on March 13 and finally hosting New Orleans on March 24.
The Pacers don’t have any games scheduled on TNT as the moment.
Now we only have to wait 74 days until Oct. 28th for the season to begin as the Pacers will head to Toronto to face the Raptors.
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