The Golden State Warriors ended last season with a pair of Play-In Tournament losses against the Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies. The battle against L.A. was particularly epic, as the Dubs fell in heartbreaking fashion, thanks in large part to a clutch three-pointer from LeBron James.
Fortunately, Golden State will get an immediate shot at some revenge when the 2021-2022 NBA regular season tips off.
The league began unveiling the schedule for the upcoming campaign on Tuesday, announcing its slate of nationally-televised games for opening week, and Christmas Day as well, and the Warriors and Lakers are set to square off as part of an opening night doubleheader at 10 p.m. ET on October 19. The NBA will release the rest of the season schedule at 3 p.m. ET on Friday.
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Here are some notes on the Warriors early-season slew of nationally-televised games, courtesy of the team’s public relations Twitter account.
-Warriors open the season on the road for 2nd-straight year & 4th time in last 20 years (at Lakers on Oct. 19).
-Home opener vs. Clippers for 2nd time in 3 years at Chase Center (Oct. 21).
-Ninth consecutive Christmas Day game & 11th in last 12 years (at Phoenix on Dec. 25).
Both the season-opener against the Lakers and the home opener against the Los Angeles Clippers – scheduled for a 10 p.m. ET tip-off on October 21 – will air on TNT.
The Lakers Are Far From Just LeBron and AD Now
GettyThe Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers during a game in May.
It’s been a wild NBA offseason with massive contract extensions for the likes of Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid, huge trades involving guys such as DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, and of course, the NBA draft. The one team that probably typifies the craziness this summer the most is probably the Lakers.
After winning the NBA Finals in 2020 behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the team was dispatched from the playoffs in the first round by the Phoenix Suns this past spring. Now, LBJ and AD have a brand new set of toys on the roster to play with, including nine-time All-Star and former MVP, Russell Westbrook among others.
While the Warriors won’t have Klay Thompson ready for opening night against the new-look Lakers, it’ll still be a showdown for the ages, full of stars on both sides. Dub Nation will hope that Curry and Draymond Green can keep up with the stacked Lakers, and get solid first impressions from newcomers like Nemanja Bjelica and Otto Porter Jr., and if they don’t get traded, rookies Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody.
Andre Iguodala is also back in the Bay Area and will surely be excited to get right back into the rivalry against “King James” and try to give his team the first W in the Steph-LeBron bout of the season.
Warriors, Steph Will Face CP3, Suns on Christmas Day
GettyStephen Curry and Mikal Bridges during a game between the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns in January.
A bit unsurprisingly, the Warriors not only have both an opening night and opening week nationally-televised game on the docket, but they’re headed for Christmas Day action as well. As part of a holiday quintuple-header Golden State will duke it out against the reigning Western Conference-champion Suns.
If the Warriors/Lakers or Warriors/Clippers games aren’t exciting enough, perhaps a matchup of Steph, (hopefully) a healthy Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green duking it out against Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton will do the trick.
63 days until opening night.
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