Ultimate guide to Portland Trail Blazers 2018-2019 schedule

The Portland Trail Blazers schedule released Friday. Here’s a guide to the most important pieces of it as the team gears up for the season.

Pieces of the 2018-2019 season schedule were leaked by the usual culprits, including opening week games and holiday matchups. The league kept the full schedule hidden well, though, until its official release on Friday afternoon.

Since the release, plenty has been written about the Blazers schedule. The biggest talking points are a face-off with the Los Angeles Lakers in LeBron James’ first NBA game with his new team, along with Portland’s first Christmas Day game since 2010.

So, here’s a guide to the other most important aspects of the Blazers 2018-2019 schedule.

Start and Finish

As everyone has already mentioned, the Blazers kick off its season against the Lakers. The game airs on TNT at 7:30 p.m. PT on Oct. 18. It will play at the Moda Center, where LeBron James is historically 6-8.

Portland’s streak of 17 home opener victories is on the line, as well as a 15-game win streak versus the LA Lakers.

The team wraps up its season against the Sacramento Kings on Apr. 10 at 7:30 p.m. PT. Likely an important game in terms of playoff seeding, it’s fortunate the Blazers play a very beatable opponent.

However, the five games prior to facing the Kings are all against playoff caliber squads. Portland faces Minnesota (away), Memphis (home), Denver (away), Denver (home) and Los Angeles Lakers (away) before closing out the year against Sacramento.

Difficulty

The cumulative winning percentage of opponents (records from last year) on next year’s schedule is 0.499. This includes four games against the Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers, but only three against the Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz.

The Philadelphia 76ers have the lowest opponent winning percentage for its schedule at 0.487, and 13 teams have a lower (“easier”) percentage than the Blazers. Memphis has the highest opponent winning percentage at 0.517.

Nationally Televised

The Blazers play 13 nationally televised games, up from 11 last season. There are also seven potential NBATV games to add on.

Here are the televised games to mark on your calendar:

• Lakers – Oct. 18 – TNT – 7:30 p.m PT
• Pelicans – Nov. 1 – TNT – 7:30 p.m PT
• Lakers – Nov. 14 – ESPN – 7:30 p.m PT
• Nuggets – Nov. 30 – ESPN – 7:30 p.m PT
• Jazz – Christmas!!! – ESPN – 7:30 p.m PT
• Thunder – Jan. 4 – ESPN – 7:30 p.m PT
• Pelicans – Jan. 18 – ESPN – 7:30 p.m PT
• Jazz – Jan. 30 – ESPN – 7:30 p.m. PT
• Heat – Feb. 5 – TNT – 7:30 p.m PT
• Spurs – Feb. 7 – TNT – 7:30 p.m PT
• Thunder – Mar. 7 – TNT – 7:30 p.m PT
• Pacers – Mar. 18 – ESPN – 7:30 p.m PT
• Nuggets – Apr. 5 – ESPN – 7:30 p.m PT

Homecoming Games

Four recent Blazers have moved on to different teams, creating several homecoming games. Saving time on this section, three of the four are on the Brooklyn Nets – Shabazz Napier, Ed Davis and Allen Crabbe.

Portland plays Brooklyn on Feb. 21 on the road, then welcomes its ex-players home on Mar. 25.

Pat Connaughton strayed from the pack and signed a deal with the Milwaukee Bucks. The Blazers face them on Nov. 6 at home and Nov. 21 on the road.

All four of these guys should be given a warm welcome.

Back-to-backs

For the first time since the lockout season in 2012, Portland plays no travel back-to-backs. This is especially helpful for the Blazers as they generally have to travel the furthest per game being isolated in the Pacific Northwest.

The team plays 12 back-to-backs, seven of which are on the road. Twelve is tied for least in the league with six other teams (the most is 15).

On the other end, Portland plays 10 opponents which are on the second of a back-to-back, least in the league along with four other teams.

Random Facts

Here are a couple random facts to round out this guide to the Blazers schedule:

• Roughly 54,333 miles traveled over the course of 82 games (most in the NBA).
  • Portland’s first away game is in Orlando, accounting for 3,008 miles of flying right off the bat.
• Blazers have eight rest advantage games and ten rest disadvantage games.
  • Two teams have less rest advantage games and five have the same number.
• The longest road trip is seven games from Feb. 25 to Mar. 5. Its seven opponents are Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Boston, Toronto, Charlotte, and Memphis.
• The longest homestand is six games from Nov. 1 to Nov. 11. Its six opponents are New Orleans, Los Angeles (Lakers), Minnesota, Milwaukee, Los Angeles (Clippers), and Boston.