The Toronto Raptors may not be playing on Christmas Day, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be getting some national television love south of the border.
On Wednesday, the NBA released its national television schedule for the league’s opening week, Christmas Day and Martin Luther King Day.
The Raptors will be getting two dates as part of the NBA’s opening week extravaganza. The first coming on Friday Oct. 19 at home against the Boston Celtics on ESPN and the second versus the Washington Wizards in D.C. the very next day on NBA TV.
The Oct. 19 date gives a hint as to when the Raptors’ opening game may be. Since that contest against the Celtics comes on a Friday, a Wednesday Oct. 17 opening date would make sense. The team’s season probably isn’t starting as late as Friday and the league won’t normally schedule more games on its official opening night other than the doubleheader it has planned nationally – in this case Boston-Cleveland and Houston-Golden State on Oct. 16.
The full national television schedule is slated to be released Friday, so this isn’t to say that Toronto’s been completely snubbed from potential TNT Thursday or ABC Saturday and Sunday games.
[relatedlinks]