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This afternoon, the NBA released the first week of nationally televised games, on top of the schedules for Christmas Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Two previously reported games were confirmed: the Sixers will head to Boston to face the Celtics for the very first game of the NBA season on October 16th at 8:00 PM EST on TNT, and then return to Boston for a Christmas Day matchup at 5:30 PM EST on ABC.
Two more Sixers games were announced: the Sixers’ home opener will be on Thursday, October 18th against the Chicago Bulls at 8:00 PM EST on TNT. In addition to this, the Sixers will play host to the Houston Rockets on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, on January 21st at 8:00 PM EST, once again on TNT.
The Sixers being one of the NBA’s go-to teams for prime-time games is surreal. For four years before this past season, they were the laughing stock of the NBA. For nearly a decade before that, they were a middling team stuck in “NBA purgatory.” Now, they are opening the season, and playing on all three landmark dates for the NBA.
According to Blecher Report’s Howard Beck, the remainder of the schedule will be released on Friday.