The second half of the Nets will be the most intriguing, most crucial – and most televised – in the franchise’s history, as Brooklyn tries to reach the NBA finals and the first championship parade on Flatbush Avenue since 1955.
Launched on Wednesday, the Nets calendar features 20 games on national TV, just one less than the league leader Lakers. Power of the stars. Overall, the Nets will have seven games on ESPN, five on TNT, two on ABC and six on NBA TV. The Nets have shown big numbers so far on national TV, being the third most popular team in the league according to classification data. Better yet, they lost only one game on national TV.
Things start on March 11 at the Barclays Center – no longer without fans – with a Christmas rematch against the Celtics. You will be at TNT. Then, less than two weeks later, they will face the best of the West, Utah Jazz, on March 24, on ESPN. The Nets broke Jazz on January 5, the last time Kyrie Irving played before saying goodbye and a week before the Nets acquired James Harden.
LeBron James and the Lakers will be in town on April 10 – also on ESPN. The Nets defeated the Angelenos twice in a row, but both came to the Staples Center in difficult circumstances – the last game before the league was closed by the pandemic – and the second was without Kevin Durant on the Brooklyn side and Anthony Davis on the LA side. .
There will also be great conference games. On April 14, the Nets and 76ers will play in Philadelphia on ESPN. The two teams shared their first two games. Current Eastern Conference champion Heat will host the Nets in South Beach four days later. And yes, it will be on ESPN too. The Celtics will be in Brooklyn on April 23 (yes, on ESPN), but unfortunately, there will be no revenge game for Kyrie in front of the Boston boo-birds this season.
Did someone say revenge games? How about two games against the Rockets, one at the end of the first half on March 3 in Houston, then in Brooklyn on March 31? The first will be carried out by ESPN, the second by YES.
The Nets, who played against the Knicks only once in the first half, will face the Knicks at home on March 15th and April 5th. The first will be on ESPN, the second on NBA TV. The Knicks, if you’re wondering, will be on national TV 12 times, six on ESPN, six in the NBA.
There will be seven games in a row, the most difficult coming at the start of the second half on another west coast trip, March 23 in Portland and the Jazz game the following night. This is also just before the March 25 negotiation deadline, adding to the pressure.
And the most difficult stretch? That would have to be the two weeks close to the end of the season, between April 25th and May 8th. As The Athletic’s Alex Schiffer points out, the Nets will play Phoenix, Indiana, Toronto twice, Portland, Milwaukee twice, Dallas and Denver – all current playoff teams.
And at the end of the season, the Nets will face two teams that may be fighting for a playoff spot, the Bulls twice on May 11 and May 15 and the Spurs on May 12. The Nets closes the season on May 16 against the Cavaliers at Barclays Center.
As for tickets and the fan experience, we will have to play it by ear.