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Always a fun time of year when the schedule comes out and you can identify the matchups you might be looking for or you know everyone is looking for around the league. We're going to do a little bit of that in a short ish podcast today. We'll talk about the Emirates NBA Cup and of course all the key dates for the seventy six ers and the prominent league wide dates that they are playing on, such as Christmas Day, and break down some key opponents and the matchups that
we are looking forward to. First, Lauren, what do you like about this time of year?
Ooh, I love the ramp up phase.
Matt Murphy.
We know that these guys have been in the gym separately, right usually in August they start to meet up with one another. September they start to meet up in Philly training camp preseason, and then we're really off to the races. And as soon as the schedule comes out, it does all start to feel very real. This schedule feels a little different than some of the ones that we had in recent seasons, so looking forward to breaking it down with.
You, notably the one of the West Coast trips that will talk about. But let's start with the opening game, which also happens to be the home opener for the seventy six Ers, which is not always the case. It's the inverse location of last season's opening game. It's the Milwaukee Bucks coming to Philadelphia for a seven to thirty
Eastern game on Wednesday, October twenty third. How do you remember the opening night last year in Milwaukee with Damian Lillard against Tyrese Maxi, And how do you feel about it being in Philly this time?
Well, that's exactly what I was going to say, Matt Murphy. Last season at Milwaukee, the Sixers struggled a bit to combat that first pairing that anyone had seen of Jannis Antetokumpo and Damian Lillard, and it ended up being just such an exciting game.
Down the stretch.
Loved every minute of that one, and love the opportunity for a rematch with the Milwaukee Bucks, who, of course may not be the favorite in the East this season, but when you think about the firepower on that team, let's not forget about Chris Middleton as a third weapon that they have in a very serious way, the Milwaukee Bucks are not a team that you can count out of any season in their current form right, So love the opportunity, of course to play on Opening Night against
another marquee opponent, an opponent that are going to see they're going to see one another and duel throughout the season, perhaps again in the playoffs. So it's a great way to start a story, especially when two of the main character teams are going to start it together and might ultimately have to end it together.
That was a one point loss for the Sixers, and then they won their next eight games to start the twenty twenty three twenty four season, which took them right about to the time. We can also talk about the preseason schedule as well, because that should be out at the time that the full regular season schedule comes out.
But the Emirates NBA Cup was around the time that the Sixers finally lost again at the start of last season, and it was the first first year of that soccer style in season tournament now dubbed the Emirates NBA Cup, and the Sixers teams opponents during the group stage from November twelfth through December third will be the Knicks, their playoff opponent last year that everyone is looking forward to seeing that again, Orlando Magic, Brooklyn Nets, and Charlotte Hornets.
Those games are on Tuesdays and Fridays, and now we've got year two of this NBA Cup.
It's going to be fabulous, Matt, and listen, I know last season people sort of struggled to get fully on board, at least fans to get fully on board understanding what this event actually is. Of course, you recommend a soccer style comparison, looking over at European football, of course, who
are accustomed to having these in season tournaments. But considering that this is only one year in, I think the product that they created last year, the playoff in Vegas, the separate courts, the alternate courts wearing addition jerseys, it was really cool to just watch the way that they made sure, even in its infancy, that this would be something that looks different from other regular.
Season NBA games.
And again, if the goal is to get some excitement into the regular season ahead of Christmas, it's the perfect way to do it, right when you look at the fact that the Emirates NBA Cup quarterfinals, semi finals and championship are gonna be played between December tenth and December seventeenth, ahead of of course, the Sixers sort of second or rather the NBA's second opening night on Christmas Day, which we'll talk about in a second.
A week later.
Right now, we're really working through the entire season with exciting tent pole moments along the way, not starting at Christmas and not ending on opening night, right it sort of mixes up those first couple months of this season, and I love the way it went last year, so looking forward to watching it grow.
Let's talk about Christmas next, but before that, one last thing on the Emirates NBA Cup is that no complaining, but the six Ers sometimes found themselves last year on the second night of a back to back for some of those key games and play the other four teams in your group one time each either home or away, and the Pacers ended up winning the Sixers group and going all the way to the championship game, where they lost to the Lakers, who were the first champions of
this thing. But this Knixt game on November twelfth, this Magic Game on November fifteenth, Nets November twenty second, and the Charlotte Hornets December third. The two back to backs they have in the NBA Cup are both front end back to backs, so they can really go all out on winning these group stage games. Not that they weren't last year, but they were on the second night against the Pacers, and I believe it was before a big game against the Celtics too, or maybe it was that
that they played the Pacers and then the Celtics. So basically it looks more favorable when it comes to setting up your lineup for these groups stage games. Now, the NBA on Christmas Day always a huge deal, and the Sixers are part of it. Again, with a five pm Eastern game on Wednesday Christmas at the Boston Celtics, the defending champions, it doesn't get much bigger than that.
And again, as was the case pairing up with the Milwaukee Bucks on opening Night, the NBA giving the seventy six Ers a ton of respect when it comes to breaking down this schedule, right the opportunity to play against the defending champs, to play against arrival, to play on Christmas Day during one of these marquee slots on ABC in one of the more famous arenas in the country. Whether or not you like Boston, you have to respect the basketball environment up there, right.
So to position the Sixers in this way on both of the early marquee days for.
The league is flattering and it's an indication that the league is expecting big things from the seventy six Ers, who of course are expecting big things from themselves this season.
Sixers are one of the teams let's played the most on Christmas Day. They played the early game against the Knicks, but the Spurs will be in New York. Well, they played the Heat most recently on Christmas, but they've in the past played the early game against the Knicks. It's Spurs at Knicks, Timberwolves at Mavericks, seventy six Ers at Celtics, Lakers at Warriors, and Nuggets at Suns. And that is definitely one of the marquee games that I'm looking forward to.
But we will wrap in a few moments with not only the marquee matchup that we're looking forward to the most, but also an under the radar game that each of
us is looking forward to the most. So the Boston games don't start until Christmas, and the other three are February second in Philadelphia, the first home game against the defending champs, February twentieth, also in Philadelphia, and March sixth, So they don't play Boston until Christmas, which should give the time the team sometime to get going, and also around the All Star break is also another where they played half of that regular season series against the Celtics.
What about the Knicks matchup this year with the first being the cup game, and then it's another season where they don't play at MSG until later in the season. So it's January fifteenth at home, February twenty sixth, and April first in New York. But how much are you looking forward to seeing the Knicks, which now feature macal Bridges against the Sixers, which of course now feature Paul George and a host of other new players.
Not, of course I'm biased, but to me, looking back at this NBA Playoffs, the Sixers versus the Knicks, the first round of these NBA Playoffs, to me was the most exciting series throughout the course of the playoffs. And I think that there's an argument to be made that it's not even that close. Right, the margin of defeat, the margin of victory in each of those games, the late game, hero, the theatrics. This series had everything right, and everyone remembers how it started.
How it middled, how it ended.
I had circled one of the first dates I had circled, November twelfth versus the New York Knicks in Philadelphia to open the NBA Cups late. By the way, the Knicks probably the best of the teams that the Sixers are going to face throughout the NBA Cup, which again you mentioned it. The Knicks, the Orlando Magic, the Brooklyn Nets, and the Charlotte Hornets make up the group phase or the group stage that the Sixers are going to play
in the NBA Cup. But anyway, remembering the taste that was left in Sixers fans mouths and in Knicks fans mouths, that series was testy to get to resume it early in the season, very exciting. Not unlike what we were talking about with the Milwaukee Bucks. These are teams that are going to be linked throughout the season, perhaps even beyond,
really looking forward to seeing how they match up. Obviously, both teams have leveled up their front side of the roster and backsides of the roster in interest ways that will change the way that the teams match up with one another. But some of the key characters, of course, are the same. Continuing to watch Brunson versus Maxi for years to come is going to be a pleasure, and that pleasure definitely will resume on November twelfth, in Philadelphia.
That first round matchup that certainly felt like a later round matchup up to high quality Eastern Conference teams last year ended with the Knicks scoring six hundred and fifty points to the six or six hundred and forty nine points, which is just remarkable to look back on. It was so closely contested, and then a reminder about the Cup.
You can either win your group or be the other team the other top two teams from your conference that also advanced to the quarterfinals, which will be in mid December. But we'll have plenty more on that when we get closer. Some other things about the schedule. You talk about the Knicks, the first Knicks game being early season, so is a West Coast trip against Phoenix and both LA teams. Why is that unusual a little bit for recent Sixers history.
Well, in recent history, the Sixers don't go all the way to Los Angeles until March, right, so to go early in the season feels not like a mistake, especially when you look at the fact that that's a three game trip with three national TV games at Phoenix at LA Clippers at LA Lakers. A reminder that the Clippers and the Lakers will not be in the same building
this season. A reminder that just two weeks into his Sixers tenure, Paul George is going to return and have his first date with his former team in Los Angeles, his first date with his former team in a new arena in Los Angeles. So really looking forward to that November six again, two weeks to the day from the season opener October twenty third versus Milwaukee. We will see
Paul George against his former team. We'll see Tyrese Maxi and Joel Embiid against some former teammates, talking of course about James Harden, PJ Tucker, Niko Btu Zom back with the Clippers, Mobamba signing with the Clippers. So there's tons of energy in those first couple weeks. That's without Matt even mentioning going back to Toronto early in the season again, which will be always a meaningful matchup for head coach Nick Nurse, who won a title there of course not
that many years ago. So there's a ton in those first couple weeks. It's meaty, and I'm excited to watch the Sixers get such high quality opponents and such marquee matchups again as determined by the league so early in their schedule.
The other Sixers Clippers regular season game is also in November, November twenty fourth in Philadelphia against Paul George, his most recent team before joining up with the seventy six Ers. The Denver Nuggets matchups Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic, which we saw on the game's biggest international stage. Those will be in January first, the twenty first of January in Denver and the thirty first of January in South Philadelphia.
There are fourteen back to backs on the s Sixers schedule this year, four in the span of two weeks in January, two more that pop up in early February, so that period of time will be busy for the team. But before we wrap up with the matchups that you and I are looking forward to personally, is there anything in regards to month by month long home stand long road trips that jump off the page.
Well, you mentioned the.
Back to backs and a lot of road back to backs road road rather back to backs for the six Ers in the second half of the season. I'm looking in January at SAC at Golden State back to back not that uncommon to see those two teams on consecutive nights. The six Ers have done it before a few times in the last couple of years, but at Indiana and
at Milwaukee on January eighteenth and nineteenth. Then you go ahead to March at Dallas at Houston, not as close together as people that aren't from Texas like myself might think.
That is a little bit of a journey. At Dallas at.
Houston back to back on the sixteenth and the seventeenth of March, and then at Atlanta at New Orleans back to back on the twenty third and twenty fourth of March. So those road road back to backs really in terms of sort of a shock to your system, right playing high intensity, getting on a plane, getting in changing time zones, those are things that I think fans when you turn on the game don't really realize exactly how much traveling circus through the night is happening every night for every.
Team in the NBA.
But those road road back to back is always something to look at, and then of course to look at what the other team is coming off of. But when it's a road road back to back, you know, at least the opponent is playing at home and the Sixers do not have that privilege. This year, there are a
few home home back to backs. A couple road home back to backs are home road back to backs rather, but those road road ones are always ones to look at, because if you can steal both games in a road road back to back, you've done something pretty impressive.
I'm going to quickly list the big game that I'm looking forward to the most, maybe among the more notable opponents. It is that Christmas game in Boston. The five o'clock start. I just think that is that's like seems like the perfect time on Christmas for a six Ers Celtics game. Really, I could go with any of the Boston games as
the ones I'm looking forward to the most. I think the ones post All Star Break, the two that are after the All Star Break, which is February twentieth and March sixth, could tell us a lot about where both of these teams are in the Eastern Conference and how they stack up against each other. Because to be the best, you have to beat the best, and this Celtics starting lineup at least was so so good last season to go all the way. Which Marquee game are you looking at?
I mean, listen, can't argue with the argument that you just laid out. I love playing at Denver. I know that that's an opponent that the Sixers have had circled on their calendar year after year. We haven't seen Yokic embid as many times as we've wanted to over the years. So I am looking at January twenty first at Denver, that coming off of well ending.
A road trip that features a road road back to back.
We just mentioned at Indiana at Milwaukee, then taking a day off to get to Denver. But at Milwaukee is another one that I love, love We talked about it, love the first game against the Clippers. Love anytime the Sixers face the Dallas Mavericks. There are more connections there than we seem to remember. And Tyrese Maxi takes his hometown team really seriously. So looking forward to those I
don't want to steal you're under the radar game. Why don't you take it off my plate so that I don't steal it from you, because that's what I was going to say.
Next December twenty third, Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs seven Eastern in South Philadelphia. So right before that, Sixer Celtics game. It's the up and coming Spurs coming to Philadelphia on Monday night, the twenty third, and then you've got Christmas Eve and then the game in Boston at five on Wednesday. So that is my under the radar game, and I was given under the Radar honorable mention.
I know Milwaukee, I don't know if they could qualify as under the radar, but it's more so about just the day that this game falls on. Another Bucks matchup is is February ninth in Milwaukee. It's Super Bowl Sunday, so that will be a an afternoon start leading into the Super Bowl for the Sixers and the Bucks.
I love that big day.
If you're a sports fan, circle it on your calendar right now, February ninth, your appetizer is six Ers at.
Bucks and then the Egles Gaga in the Super Bowl.
Exactly. You took it right out of my mouth.
I was going to say, you're gonna see the Sixers and the Eagles on the same day, February ninth.
Matt, It's a great schedule. Listen.
There will be matchups that we did not talk about today that we're going to look back on. I'm thinking about these past two matchups with the San Antonio Spurs. Last season, we didn't mention those on the well we mentioned in the run up to last season. We did mention being excited to watch Victor Weembanyama, but we didn't realize that those two games were going to be such memorable ones last season. I'm talking, of course, of Joel Embiid's career high game and then Tyrese Maxi doing the
same in San Antonio weeks later. So both of those games were awesome last season. I'm very excited to see which under the radar games we didn't choose, making them under the under the radar games are going to stick out to us when we look back at twenty four to twenty five?
Did I miss your under the radar pick?
I mean I listed so many.
I think my under the radar pick where.
The back to backs were? I think I didn't pick.
One, and I think that was intentional because I don't want to be proven wrong when my under the radar pick ends up not being a great game. But listen for me, the Golden State Warriors, do you always stand out on a schedule. I don't know if it's just because I became a massive NBA fan during their dynasty, but the fact that Steph Curry Draymond Green are still going to be a part of that team every single year, I'll look forward to watching how our Sixers match up
with the Golden State Warriors. And of course, now adding an extra level right Steph Curry and Joel Andbi Team USA teammates this summer going to be really cool to watch him go into these buildings with some new friends with some tight bonds. Looking at at Lakers on November eighth, Joelle reuniting with Team USA teammate Lebron James.
That's going to be fun to say.
All season long as he continues to visit his now teammates as opponents.
Those are all well and good, but I'm assigning you January fourteenth at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who could be one of the lost that too, the best teams in the West, if not the best team in the West again in the regular season. That's a back to back mid January against the Thunder at home and then the Knicks at home the fourteenth and fifteenth. The preseason schedule is a game on October seventh. October eleventh in Minnesota against Minnesota in Des Moines, Iowa. October twelfth
at Boston, two days later in Atlanta. There's six games October sixteenth at home against Brooklyn and October eighteenth in Orlando to wrap up the preseason. But we can't wait for that to get started, to end the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five NBA season to get started for the Philadelphia seventy six ers. Lauren Rosen, thank you as always.
Matt Murphy, thank you so much,