This NBA 2017/18 schedule is upon us, and after a few days consideration were looking at the games every European basketball fans need to watch. With approx 1300 games to choose from we have picked the most Euro focused games we could possibly think of.
Wednesday 18th Oct – Opening night sees the battle of the bigs kick off in the Western Conference as Rudy Gobert takes on Nikola Jokic. While Spanish teammates Ricky Rubio and Juan Hernangomez will face each other for the first time since EuroBasket.
An alternative choice for opening day sees the San Antonio Spurs take on Minnesota as the Spurs look to line-up Davis Bertans, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker & Joffrey Lauvergne in what should be an entertaining game with the new look Timberwolves.
Thursday 19th Oct – I would, as a Bulls fan add their opening game featuring Finland’s Lauri Markkanen facing Lithuania’s Jonas Valaciunas and the Toronto Raptors but I wont make you suffer through what will probably be a terrible game.
A game that may actually be worth watching on this date is the potential first NBA apperance for Milos Teodosic as the LA Clippers take on the LA Lakers at Staples Center.
Thursday 26th Oct – Week 2 of the NBA schedule see’s Boston take on Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, a budding rivalry this season with the Bucks looking to finally make their push into the upper echelons of the Eastern Conference. The Bucks will only go as far as Giannis takes them so look for him to dominate this season.
Friday 10th November – Miami Heat take on the Utah Jazz, almost 2 months after Goran Dragic and Slovenia knocked title-favorites Spain out of EuroBasket, who will take the W in this match-up of two great European PG’s?
Tuesday 28th November – Battle of the Bigs take 2 as Denver make the away trip to Utah to take on Gobert, Rubio and the Jazz.
Thursday 30th November sees another 2 of Europe’s best PG’s go head to head as Milos Teodosic hosts Ricky Rubio and the Utah Jazz.
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Dec 25th – This years Christmas games see the Cleveland Cavaliers getting blown out by Golden State Warriors, but who in Europe really cares?
Not us, we would much prefer to watch Porzingis and his New York Knicks alongside newly drafted Frank Ntilikina take on Dario Saric and the play-off bound Philadelphia 76ers (You heard it here first BiE Fearless Prediction Philly are making the playoffs).
Friday the 5th Jan is Dirk vs someone who, in a lot of mock drafts was compared to Dirk, Lauri Markkanen, both teams are pretty bad this year so this could be quite close.
Saturday Jan 20th sees Milos travel back to Utah to potentially inflict some revenge on Ricky Rubio.
Saturday 10th Feb matches up the San Antonio Spurs with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Zaza Pachulia and the Golden State Warriors
Tuesday 13th Feb sees the Spurs stay on the road against Jokic and the Nuggets, what better way to spend the night before valentines day?
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Friday 2nd March – Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic takes on the other Gasol facing off against Marc in what could be a battle for Western Conference playoff position.
Monday 5th March – Battle of the Brothers as the Gasols go head to head, after both having great outings at Eurobasket Pau will be in strong playoff position by March which Marc and the Grizz may be struggling for a 7th or 8th seed in a very strong Western Conference
Tuesday 3rd April – Can Porzingod lead the Knicks to a playoff birth in what is a severly depleated Eastern Conference? A late season game against a Euro friendly Orlando team featuring Hezonja, Vucevic, Fournier & Rudez.
Thursday 5th April – Two great European point guards face off again as the LA Clippers and Milos Teodosic travel to Utah to take on Rubio, Gobert and a resiliant Jazz team.
Friday 6th April – Lebron James and the Cavs travel to Philadelphia to take on the 76’ers with Euro’s Dario Saric, Furkan Korkmaz and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot looking to have put Philly in a playoff position by this late in the season. 76ers could cause an upset right here.
NBA Playoffs – Once the seasons final positions are knows, play-off games to watch include Denver, 76ers and Utah Jazz as the most Eurocentric teams.
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