Five Key Games In Washington Wizards' 2011-2012 Schedule

The Washington Wizards' schedule for the upcoming season that may or may not happen is full of intriguing match-ups for a young squad looking to improve on last year's 23-win season. Here are some games to look out for: 

• November 15 @ the Lakers. This game comes at the beginning of a four-game Western conference road trip and at the tail end of a brutal start to the schedule that includes two games against the Magic, a road date with the Heat and a home game vs. the Bulls. After this Lakers game, we'll have a pretty good idea of how the Wiz stack up against the NBA's best.
• November 30 vs. the Cavaliers. This will be John Wall's first chance to go head-to-head with Kyrie Irving, the number 1 overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft. Something tells me this will be the start of a new Wizards-Cavs rivalry.
• January 10 vs. the Mavericks: Dirk Nowitzki and the defending champions will visit the Wizards for the only time next season on this date.
  
• January 13 @ the 76ers. While Wall blossomed in his rookie campaign with the Wiz, the number 2 overall pick in 2010, Sixers guard Evan Turner, struggled to adjust to the NBA. However, he finished last season strong, and if he continues to improve, expect this game to spark up after-the-fact draft debates. 
• March 17 @ the Hornets. I don't know whose idea it was to put the Wizards in New Orleans for St. Patrick's day, but it should make for an entertaining night. 

Washington Wizards 2011-2012 Schedule Announced, Team Opens Vs. Nets At Home

The NBA released the full 2011-2012 regular season schedule on Tuesday for the Washington Wizards and the 29 other teams in the Association, displaying wishful thinking that the current lockout will end in time for the league to hold a full 82-game regular season. 

If that does, in fact, happen, the Wizards season will begin on November 2 against the New Jersey Nets and will include six nationally-televised games. Five of those games will be aired on NBATV, which hardly counts as an honor since it rarely airs blockbuster matchups. Those contests will be at the Knicks on November 28, vs. the Hornets on December 19, vs. the Knicks on February 8, vs. Utah on March 7 and vs. Milwaukee on March 10.

The sixth and final nationally televised contest will air on ESPN. It is the Wizards' April 18 season finale against...

Wait for it...

The Toronto Raptors. 

What? 

For some reason, the NBA and ESPN think Wizards-Raptors will be a compelling match-up at the end of the regular season, when both teams are almost certain to be lottery-bound. I guess that Jan Vesely - Andrea Bargnani small forward match-up is too good to stay on local TV. 

For the full Washington Wizards schedule, click here. For more on the NBA Schedule announcement, visit this StoryStream.

Wizards Schedule 2011-2012: NBA Will Release Full Schedule On Tuesday

Depending on who you ask, the NBA will either miss most or all of the upcoming Season while the two sides negotiate the terms of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. But that hasn't stopped the NBA from making their schedule for the 2011-2012 season, and it will reportedly be released on Tuesday at 2 pm.

The 2011/12 NBA schedule announcement is coming two weeks earlier this season than last season because there is no free agency. Last year, the league waited for all the big-name free agents to make up their minds before going ahead with the release. But with no free agency this season because of the lockout, the league doesn't have to wait.

Like I said, we don't know how many, if any, of the games that will be announced this afternoon will actually be played.But it will still give us an opportunity to see how the NBA is valuing each team, and how good they believe they will be. So let's hope for lots of National television games for the Wizards. We'll have the schedule here in this stream when it is released.