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SteemSports Presenter: @the23chronicles

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SteemSports General Manager: @theprophet0

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The NBA has announced its schedule for the opening week of the 2017-18 season, and all some of the league’s top contenders will be in action. The defending champions, Warriors, Celtics, Cavaliers, Rockets and Lakers are just a few of the teams that will be on your TV screen during the first week of the season.

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Opening night will feature perhaps the four best teams in the NBA – the Warriors, Cavs, Celtics and Rockets – while the rest of the week will showcase promising young team like the 76ers, Timberwolves and Bucks. We’ll also get to see Paul George and Russell Westbrook teaming up for the first time, and Lonzo Ball’s first game with the Lakers.

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Opening Week

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We’ll all be watching Kyrie and LeBron’s every interactions for any signs of turmoil when the Cavs open at home against Boston on October 17th in a rematch of the Eastern Conference finals, and then they have a date with rising Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo on October 20th.

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After the Boston-Cleveland rematch on opening night, Chris Paul and James Harden will play their first game together, at Golden State. This is a game we all want to see. We finally get to answer the question, “Did the Rockets close the gap between themselves and the Warriors and adding CP3”. Also, we get to see how Paul and Harden coexist given that each guard is used to having the ball in his hands.

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The following night, Tom Thibodeau unveils his revamped pack of Timberwolves, with Jimmy Butler, Jeff Teague, Jamal Crawford and Taj Gibson joining Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. On October 19th, the Los Angeles Lakers and the LA Clippers face each other. We will get a first look at the No. 2 overall pick, Lonzo Ball. What sneakers will the rookie be wearing? We’ll have to wait and see.

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Unfortunately for the New York Knicks and Carmelo Anthony, they face a Westbrook-led Oklahoma City Thunder on October 19th. Maybe the reigning MVP will start off the season with a triple-double.

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The NBA Christmas Day

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The NBA’s Christmas Day schedule provides more of the usual drama and rivalries that makes the holiday tradition so exciting, led by yet another Cavaliers-Warriors showdown. We’ll have LeBron against Curry and LeBron against Durant. As the defending champions, the Warriors get the reward of being at home at Oracle Arena on Christmas and will host the game at 3 p.m. ET. The Cavs beat the Warriors last season, and the Warriors will be hoping to get one back.

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The beef also ramps up with the Celtics-Wizards, a budding rivalry that went seven game in the East semis. There’s also a rematch between last season’s top two MVP candidates when Westbrook’s Thunder play Harden’s Rockets. We can hardly wait for opening week, when we get to see Kyrie and LeBron back together again – or not.

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