The NBA released the schedule for the 2015-2016 season on Wednesday, allowing you to start planning your basketball life for the next several months. Excited for the schedule to come out. #ClipperNation — Cole Aldrich (@colea45) August 12, 2015 The Los Angeles Clippers will begin the season on the road at Sacramento against the Kings on Wednesday, October 28. The Clippers went 3-1 against the Kings last season, and have won five straight games in Sacramento. It’s the first time since 1991-1992 that the Clippers will open the season on the road against the Kings. But it’s the next game on the Clippers’ schedule that has more of your attention, as the jilted Dallas Mavericks come to STAPLES Center on Thursday, October 29 for the Clippers’ home opener. It’s the second season in a row that the Clippers start the season with a back-to-back. Speaking of back-to-backs, the Clippers were the best team in the league on the second night of back-to-backs last season, winning 16 of 20 such games (80 percent). In 2015-2016, the Clippers have 20 back-to-backs again, despite a league-wide decline on back-to-backs overall. NBA wasn’t kidding about reducing wear and tear. Back to backs average down from 19.3 per team to 17.8. 4 in 5s drop from 70 overall to 27. — K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) August 12, 2015 The Clippers get the Kings again on Halloween night, Saturday, October 31 at home. The Clippers’ first game against the defending NBA champions will be Wednesday, November 4 at Golden State against the Warriors. The team that knocked the Clippers out of the playoffs last season, the Houston Rockets, will come to Los Angeles on Saturday, November 7. Former starting SF Matt Barnes returns to STAPLES Center with the Memphis Grizzlies to face the Clippers on Monday, November 9. DeAndre Jordan’s first game in Dallas is set for Wednesday, November 11 on ESPN. That game will also mark the first out of California for the Clippers in the 2015-2016 season; the team didn’t leave California until November 19 in 2014-2015. The Clippers only play two Eastern Conference teams before December, hosting the Detroit Pistons on Saturday, November 14 and the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, November 22. Both games are matinee games. The softest part of the Clippers’ schedule may be the season-long six game homestand from November 25 to December 5 (Jazz, Pelicans, Timberwolves, Trail Blazers, Pacers, Magic). The Clippers don’t play an Eastern Conference team on the road until Wednesday, December 9, at Milwaukee. That game against the Bucks will come in the middle of a five-game road trip. While the Clippers don’t have a road trip longer than five games in the 2015-2016 season, they will have four sets of five-game road trips: December 7-14 (Minnesota, Milwaukee, Chicago, Brooklyn, Detroit) December 25-31 (Lakers, Utah, Washington, Charlotte, New Orleans) January 21-27 (Cleveland, New York, Toronto, Indiana, Atlanta) March 15-23 (San Antonio, Houston, Memphis, New Orleans, Golden State) Christmas Day will mark the first Lakers vs. Clippers game of the season, the latest such 1st game of the Hallway Series in a non-lockout season since 2003-2004. Paul Pierce will visit the Wizards on Monday, December 28, while Lance Stephenson will visit the Hornets on Wednesday, December 30. Before the Clippers embark on their only five-game Eastern Conference road trip of the season, they will host the Rockets on MLK Day, Monday, January 18 on TNT. The only time the Clippers host the San Antonio Spurs in 2015-2016 will be Thursday, February 18. That game will be the Clippers’ first game after the All-Star Break in Toronto. The Clippers will play at San Antonio on Friday, December 18 and Tuesday, March 15. Every team on the Clippers’ final five-game road trip of the 2015-2016 season was a Western Conference playoff team last year. The Clippers’ final home game of the season will be Tuesday, April 12 against the Grizzlies, while the Clippers finish the season the next night in Phoenix on Wednesday, April 13, the final day of the 2015-2016 NBA regular season. In all, the Clippers are scheduled to play 33 nationally televised games, the most in franchise history. In addition to the Spurs, the Clippers play the Grizzlies, Jazz, and Nuggets only three times in 2015-2016. They face every other Western Conference team four times, and every Eastern Conference team twice. The preseason schedule has also been released. The Clippers open the preseason on October 2 vs. the Denver Nuggets at STAPLES Center. The Clippers will then face the Raptors in Vancouver on October 4 before going to China with the Hornets for two games. The Clippers return home against the Warriors on October 20 before concluding the preseason against the Trail Blazers on October 22, six days before the season opener. What stands out to you all about the 2015-2016 schedule for the Los Angeles Clippers?
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