After the NBA schedule was released to the public, head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks Jason Kidd has a little less than two months to prepare his team for the upcoming season.
Kidd and the Bucks will open the season at Boston on October 18 at 7:30 p.m. ET and then host LeBron James and the defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers on October 20 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. Those two tilts will be great tests to open the season and could set the tone for a tough playoff race in the East.
On October 26, J-Kidd and Co. host the Celtics at 8 p.m. ET on TNT followed shortly by a matchup with the new-look Oklahoma City Thunder on Halloween night at 8 p.m. ET on NBATV. The Bucks’ early schedule doesn’t let up when the calendar switches to November as they will hit the road to play Cleveland again on the seventh (7 p.m. ET on NBATV) followed by a trip to San Antonio to play the Spurs on the 10th (9 p.m. ET on ESPN).
The new year will bring a rematch of the playoff series the Bucks had against the Toronto Raptors last season in which the Bucks lost in six games. The Bucks will be in Toronto on January 1 at 7:30 p.m. ET and will host the Raptors on January 5 at 8 p.m. ET.
Jason and his Bucks will host the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors on January 12 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN and visit Oakland on March 29 at 10:30 p.m. ET on TNT. These contests will be great games for coach Kidd to see how his long, athletic bunch stacks up against the best team in the league.
The longest homestand on the schedule for the Bucks is a four-game stretch early on from October 20-26. In that stretch, Milwaukee hosts Cleveland, Portland, Charlotte and Boston before hitting the road. The longest road trip for the team is four games and occurs four times. The first, from November 1-10, includes trips to Charlotte, Detroit, Cleveland and San Antonio. Then, from November 22-30, the Bucks will travel to Phoenix, Utah, Sacramento and Portland followed by a four game trip February 4-10 to Brooklyn, New York, Miami and Orlando. Lastly, the Bucks head to LA for a game with the Clippers, Golden State, back to LA to play the Lakers and then over to Denver from March 27-April 1.
In total, the Bucks will be on national TV ten times between ESPN (6) and TNT (4). In addition, they will appear on NBATV eight times this upcoming season.
With all the shakeups around the league, Kidd and his Bucks have stayed largely constant as they try to build something special together behind the long arms of Giannis Antetokounmpo and his dynamic surrounding cast.
For the full 2017-18 schedule, head over to Bucks.com.
