(Jaime Valdez / USA Today Sports)
The National Basketball Association interrupted the Olympics Thursday to release the schedule for the 2016-2017 season!
54,436 miles will be traveled this season.
Complete schedule https://t.co/Sf7QhNJJtG pic.twitter.com/7xOYpXYhdI— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) August 11, 2016
The Los Angeles Clippers begin the season on the road at Portland against the Trail Blazers on Thursday, October 27; it will be the only time this season that the Clippers visit Portland. The Clippers went 3-1 against the Trail Blazers during the regular season, but the Trail Blazers ended the Clippers season in the 1st round of the 2015-2016 Western Conference Playoffs.
This will be the second time in three years that the Clippers open the season against the team that eliminated them in the previous postseason; they avenged their 2013-2014 Western Conference Semifinals series loss vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder with a 93-90 home win to open the 2014-2015 season. Ten years ago, the Clippers opened the 2006-2007 season at Phoenix after the Suns beat the Clippers in the 2005-2006 Western Conference Semifinals; the Suns beat the Clippers 112-104 in the 2006-2007 season opener. That was also the last time the Clippers had a season opener outside of the state of California.
The Clippers won’t have a back-to-back to start the season for the first time since 2013-2014. The home opener will be against the Utah Jazz on Sunday, October 30 at 1:30pm PT. The next night, Halloween, the Clippers will host the Suns at 7:30pm PT.
Four games in-five nights & back-to-back games reduced to all-time lows for 2nd straight season pic.twitter.com/eDvAXEVWCj
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) August 11, 2016
The NBA keeps cutting down on back-to-backs, which is nice. But the effort rings mostly hollow for the Clippers. They had a league-leading 20 back-to-backs in 2015-2016, and they lead the league again with 18 back-to-backs in 2016-2017. The Clippers will play seven games in an 11-day stretch from March 20-30.
But the Clippers have an interesting schedule against the defending Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors, who swept the Clippers last season for the first time since 1986-1987. The Clippers first meeting with the Warriors will be on Wednesday, December 7 at STAPLES Center with two days off. The Clippers will visit Oracle Arena for the first time in the 2016-2017 season on Saturday, January 28, after three days off. The Clippers will host the Warriors on the second night of a back-to-back Thursday, February 2, but their first game after the All-Star break will be at Golden State on Thursday, February 23. That last meeting will come with seven days off.
The Clippers will visit the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday, December 1, and the Cavaliers will visit the Clippers in Los Angeles on Saturday, March 18.
Last year, the Clippers didn’t have a road trip of more than five games. They will have a six-game road trip this season to go with two five-game road trips. All of them will be before the All-Star break, and the two five-game trips are separated only by that back-to-back home game against the Warriors:
- November 23-December 2 (Dallas, Detroit, Indiana, Brooklyn, Cleveland, New Orleans)
- January 21-February 1 (Denver, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Golden State, Phoenix)
- February 5-13 (Boston, Toronto, New York, Charlotte, Utah)
Before the Clippers go on the road in late January, they get a season-long five-game homestand from January 8-19 (Heat, Magic, Lakers, Thunder, Timberwolves). The game against the Thunder will be on MLK Day, Monday, January 16.
Christmas Day marks the second year in a row that the Clippers will face the Lakers for the first meeting of the season. You may remember, the Clippers and Blake Griffin were never the same after Christmas last season. Speaking of Griffin, the Clippers will be back at Toronto on Monday, February 6 to take on the Raptors. There will be questions about other things that happened in Canada last year.
In the case that Paul Pierce comes back, and if 2016-2017 is his last NBA season, then both of the Boston Celtics games are nationally televised. The Clippers will be in Boston on Super Bowl Sunday, February 5th, on ABC. On Monday, March 6, the Clippers will host the Celtics on TNT.
The final road game of the season for the Clippers will be at San Antonio on Saturday, April 8. The Clippers will end the season at home on the final day of the regular season against the Kings on Wednesday, April 12. It will be the first time since 2010-2011 that the Clippers will play their final game of the season at home and not on the second night of a back-to-back. Yes, the Clippers have ended the last five seasons with a road game after playing the night before.
The Clippers are scheduled to play a franchise-record 34 nationally televised games: five on ABC, 10 on TNT, 10 on ESPN, and nine on NBA TV.
The four teams that the Clippers play only three times in 2016-2017 are the Trail Blazers, Rockets, Pelicans and Timberwolves. The Clippers will be done with the Trail Blazers on Monday, December 12. The first meeting with the Rockets will be on Friday, December 30, the only Clippers game at Houston. The only time the Pelicans visit the Clippers will be Saturday, December 10. And former Clippers C Cole Aldrich will visit his former team in Los Angeles only once, on Thursday, January 19 when the Timberwolves come to STAPLES Center.
The preseason schedule is out as well, and the Clippers will be staying in the Pacific Time Zone for all but one game. The Clippers begin the preseason on October 4 at Golden State. The Raptors, Jazz, and Trail Blazers will all visit the Clippers at STAPLES Center on October 5, 10, and 13, respectively. The Clippers will visit the Jazz in Utah on October 17 before concluding the preseason in Sacramento on October 18, nine days before the regular season opener in Portland.
Oh great, another year of Pierce. He’s not retiring.
Oh no, a 1st ballot Hall of Famer will be the 13th man on the roster?
They have a 13th man who is basically a coach and a trade asset come February. What a terrible position to be in.
But I get it. Doc is the worst GM in NBA history. Austin belongs in the Chinese league. DeAndre is the most overrated player in the NBA. And the Clippers will barely make the Playoffs.
You f**king clowns say the same 4 things over and over and over and over again.
Yes and maybe if the Clippers would take our advice they’d get out of the 2nd round of the playoffs.
Hahahaha.
Advice? None of the shit you write is advice.
Didn’t you just write that the Clippers should trade Blake Griffin for Enes Kanter? That would get the Clips out of the 2nd Round for sure.
You’re a Laker fan who trolls a Clipper site because you’re a loser. Your team just signed Yi Jianlian to a 1 year $8M contract.
There is no advice this year because Doc has put the Clippers in a bad situation. Clippers can only hope for a lot of injures to other teams and getting very lucky.
They are in a hell of a lot better situation than the Lakers haha
Yi Jianlian is a good signing because it will bring Chinese fans and help ticket sales.
Just like Jeremy Lin did, right?
The Lakers had the worst year in franchise history with Jeremy Lin on the team. They also saw ticket sales and ratings decline that year.
Well, after the way Bogut dominated Jordan in the Olympics this summer, I’m not completely sure the Clippers will “barely make the Playoffs”.
I am sure that Dallas is glad Jordan went back on his agreement to sign with the Mavericks, because they are much better off with Bogut, in various ways.
Hahahaha. You realize team USA rotates 3 big men and DeMarcus Cousins started against Bogut, right?
DeMote DeAndre has fallen so far that he’s now relegated to criticizing the 1st team All-NBA Center and Olympian DeAndre Jordan based on 10 minutes against Andrew Bogut during a 10 point win.
Andrew Bogut vs. the Clippers:
2014-2015: 5p 9r 3a
2015-2016: 3p 5r 3a
DeAndre Jordan vs. the Warriors:
2014-2015: 11p 14r 1a
2015-2016: 14p 16r 2a
Oops. Wrong again, DeMote DeAndre.
Well, it’s unfortunate that the Clippers have to put up with Pierce’s presence again. Last season it was clear to everybody that he was a year too old and had completely lost his NBA level quality that he once had, especially on defense where he couldn’t defend anybody, but also on offense where he couldn’t move fast or shoot straight, mainly because age had taken away his feet and legs and his hand-eye coordination.
Well, this season he’s yet another year older, so it will be a really ugly thing he does on the court this time around, even uglier than last year
Well I suppose the Clippers’ PR people will be pushing the notion that an NBA player really doesn’t need feet, legs or hand-eye coordination, at least not when he’s still got a lot of empty bluster left.
This is another in a long line of Rivers’ terrible transactions.
On the bright side no one will notice Pierce because midway through the season everyone will be talking about where CP3 and BG are going to go.
CP3 is selling his house in Bel Air
He’s buying your house and moving your big boy crib from Mommy’s room to the front lawn.
But he bought another in Calabasas.
According to “an NBA official”, which probably means a Clipper PR person, Pierce is coming back because….
“He didn’t like the way he finished last season,” an NBA official said, according to the Los Angeles Times. The official continued, ” So he wants to come back and play again. ”
Well, that’s a fine and dandy sentiment, which I guess means he thinks he owes it to the Clippers to come back and be good this coming season instead of terrible like he was last season, so he’s doing them a favor.
But the reality is that he is a year older and so he will be even worse,
The real reason he’s coming back is because he’s getting paid $3.5 million to come back, and that also will be the real reason he comes back again the season after this one.
Since Stephenson is gone in the trade for Green, and since Green is gone along with the #1 pick Rivers gave Memphis to take Stephenson, Pierce may end up playing more minutes than last season. That will be a very bad thing.
Well, at least Pierce’s age will make Crawford seem like he’s not really as old as he is.
Clippers got Bass, Felton and Speights. I suppose that’s more G PF and Center.
Pierce should get a lot of minutes at SF still.
I don’t see how Felton and CP3 can be on the court at the same time.
2017/18 Dream team:
C: DeAndre
PF: Pierce (He’ll have to play PF)
SF: W Johnson
SG: Crawford
PG: A Rivers
Yep, you can’t blame Pierce. And with all the roster spots open after CP3 and BG leave, Pierce will get more minutes the year after. Redick will also be gone, so Doc will use him to chuck up 3s. That will be a sight.
It’s telling that there hasn’t been any talk in the media about resigning Griffin and Paul. There was a lot of media discussion around what Russell Westbrook would do in Oklahoma City, and then he signed an extension. A reasonable person would expect the same kind of a thing to happen about Griffin and Paul, but no, nothing.
I’m guessing that’s because all the parties involved know that Paul and Griffin are both leaving at the end of the season, so the Clippers’ PR people will downplay the fact that this is their last season.
It should be noted that the main reason that Paul and Griffin are leaving is that there is no way for the Clippers to improve, because Rivers has squandered all of the assets the Clippers had when he got here that should have been used to improve the Clippers to the point where they could compete for the ring.
I expect that at least one of them will go to Boston, because Boston now has a real shot at the ring, mainly because they got rid of Rivers. Getting rid of Rivers and bringing in Brad Stevens as their head coach is the main reason the Celtics now have a real shot at the ring. And it’s the main reason the Clippers don’t.
They now have real shot at a ring…as opposed to when Doc was there and they actually won, a ring?
Boston won their ring when Rivers was there as head coach, but they won it in spite of him. They won it because their GM, Danny Ainge not Rivers, put together a super starting line up that was the best in the NBA. It had three NBA hall of famers in their prime (Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen) plus Rajon Rondo who also was in his prime and was a 4 time all star and 4 time NBA all defensive team, plus Kendrick Perkins who was an excellent center and also was in his prime. In addition, the key coach on that team was Tom Thibodeau, who created their super defense.
Most people know that.
Aside from the championship year in 2008 where the Celtics won .805 of their games and the following year where they won .756 of their games, Rivers has had a mediocre coaching record.
His record with the Clippers looks pretty good but it’s not better than the Clippers were doing before he got here.
Basically, he’s a run of the mill average coach who does better than that when he’s given a super roster for a couple of years in Boston and a very good roster here with the Clippers. Other than that, he’s always been very so-so.
Ainge knew that about him better than anyone, so Ainge dumped him off to the Clippers and even got a #1 pick out of it.
Doc is average to above average coach, but it’s better than the previous coaches the Clippers have had. With the right GM, CP3 and BG would take over on the court to coach the team to a finals. They just need solid pieces around them, not ex-celtics no one else really wants.
Wowzers.
And the Celtics drafted R.J. Hunter with that pick.
Double Wowzers!!!
Rajon Rondo was in his 2nd year during the 2007-2008 season.
Most people know that.
Well, most people who actually watch the NBA. But you just troll a Clipper blogsite because the Lakers are a pile of dog s**t.
Super GM Danny Ainge is making the most of those trade assets he has, huh?
How aren’t Blake Griffin, Gordon Hayward, and DeMarcus Cousins on the Celtics already? Don’t they have a Super GM???
There are some rumors:
https://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/blake-griffin-is-reportedly-planning-to-re-sign-with-clippers-when-he-becomes-a-free-agent-082416
But this isn’t like Westbrook, because BG is going to wait until after the season.
Hahaha.
Man, you are one dumb c**t.
You need CAP SPACE to sign those kinds of extensions.
Signing an extension isn’t the same as having Bird Rights during Free Agency. Houston and Oklahoma City had CAP SPACE after Howard and Durant left.
But I’m sure a man of your basketball intellect knew that.
Australia didn’t even medal at the Olympics.
So, I guess that means the Clippers will be the 8th seed this year instead of the 9th seed?
Is that how the NBA works, Jake?