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Nets schedule features 26 games on ABC, ESPN, TNT; 12 back-to-backs

By Matthew Brooks
2021 NBA Playoffs - Brooklyn Nets v Milwaukee Bucks

The Brooklyn Nets head into the 2021-2022 season as championship favorites ... after a disappointing second-round loss against the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2021 playoffs.

That stature is reflected in the Nets TV schedule with almost half of the 82 regular games airing nationally. The schedule was officially announced Friday afternoon.

Brooklyn will be on ABC, ESPN and TNT a total of 26 times over the course of the season. With 12 games on NBA TV the total rises to 38 games. The Lakers will have 42 games on national TV, the Warriors 41. Surprisingly, the NBA champion Bucks will only have 36 national games. The Knicks will have 29.

The breakdown:

- 5 on ABC

- 10 on ESPN

- 11 on TNT

- 12 on NBA TV

The Nets were on national TV 39 times during the 2020-2021 season.

The other big number: The 2021-2022 schedule features 12 back-to-backs, tied with the Lakers for the fewest this season. Of the 12, only three come after the All-Star break, also the lowest in the NBA. Brooklyn’s 2018-2019 schedule featured 11 back-to-backs before the COVID-19 stoppage halted the season. (Last year, the compressed schedule forced teams into much larger numbers.)

Overall, The Nets will travel 41,000 miles compared to the Eastern Conference average of 40,000 miles. Eighteen of their 41 home games — 44 percent — are scheduled for Friday through Sunday.

The Nets tweeted out video of some season highlights...

The NBA has already announced the Nets will open vs the Bucks on October 19 in Milwaukee then travel to Philadelphia for a game three days later vs the 76ers. Then, it’s home to Brooklyn. Here are some key home dates in when the Nets will play at the Barclays Center…

  • Brooklyn’s home opener is against LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday, October 24th, at 7:30 PM EST.
  • The team’s first revenge game will take place a day later on October 25th when the Wizards — and Spencer Dinwiddie — will travel to Brooklyn for a 7:30 p.m. game.
  • The Nets host Kevin Durant’s old team, the Golden State Warriors, on November 16th, a Tuesday, at 7:30 PM EST.
  • Brooklyn hosts the Phoenix Suns, fresh off a disappointing NBA Finals loss, on Saturday, November 27th, at 7:30 PM EST.
  • The Nets conclude the month of November by hosting the crosstown rival New York Knicks on November 30th, a Tuesday, at 7:30 PM EST. Brooklyn will host the Knicks in March as well on March 13th at 1:00 PM EST.
  • Then on December 16th, Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers come to Brooklyn for their first game, also at 7:30 PM. Brooklyn and Philadelphia will go head-to-head once again at the Barclays Center on Thursday, December 30th, at 7:00 PM EST.
  • On Friday, January 7th, the Nets host the Finals MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the Milwaukee Bucks for the first time of the season at 7:30 PM EST. Brooklyn hosts Milwaukee for a second time on March 31st, a Thursday, at 7:30 PM.
  • In what could be an NBA Finals preview, the Nets host LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, January 25th, at 7:30 PM EST — exactly one month after the two squads go head-to-head on Christmas Day.
  • The Nets host the Boston Celtics twice during the month of February, the first being on February 8th at 7:30 PM and the second is on Thursday, February 24th, at 7:30 p.m. EST.
  • On March 3rd, the Nets host the Miami Heat, retrofitted with tough newcomers PJ Tucker and Kyle Lowry, at 7:30 PM EST.

In addition to the Christmas Day game, the Nets will play the Cavaliers (and Jarrett Allen) on Martin Luther King Day, January 17, in Cleveland. Another big road game will take place January 29 when Kevin Durant returns to Golden State for the first time with fans in the Chase Center. Similarly, it will be first full house December 8th for James Harden’s return to Houston.

The longest road trip — six games — comes early. This mostly Midwest swing will send Brooklyn to Detroit, Toronto, Chicago, Orlando, New Orleans and Oklahoma City between November 5 and November 14, with the Raptors and Bulls games a back-to-back. Later, in the season, between January 29 and February 6, the Nets will head out west for five games.

It’s one of four trips of at least four games or more for the Nets during the 2021-22 season. Two of those trips will fall between January 17 and February 6 as part of a stretch in which the Nets play 17 of 23 games on the road up to March 10.

However, the Nets will finish the season with six of eight games at home and one of the two road games across the river in Manhattan, giving them only an April 2 visit at Atlanta outside the five boroughs in the last two weeks of the regular season. The playoffs begin April 16.

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