The NBA announced the Knicks’ 2018-19 schedule

The 2018-19 NBA schedule is up! Let’s get to the 1/30th that counts:

Highlights:

• The Knicks open the season at home against the already-tanking Atlanta Hawks. Two nights later their first road game is in Brooklyn. Can you smell that winning streak yet?

• The longest road-trip of the season is a six-gamer bridging 2018 and 2019 and covers Milwaukee, Utah, Denver, the Lakers, Portland and Golden State.
• The longest homestand runs from late March to April Fool’s Day, against Utah, Denver, the Clippers, Toronto, Miami and Chicago.
• The Celtics come to the Garden October 20th and February 1st. The Knicks are in Boston November 21 and December 6th. Pretty compressed between them two.
• The Warriors lone trip to New York will be October 26th.
• Michael Beasley and any other new guys the Lakers signed visit MSG for a noon tip on St. Patrick’s Day. Got a feeling that’ll be one hell of a game, especially if Kristaps Porzingis is back by then.
• The Nets, who still suck, only more orthodoxly, play the Knicks twice in October and the season series is over shortly after the All-Star break. That’s probably for the best.
• Evidence of a kinder NBA a gentler NBA an NBA aware that the same poor labor conditions they could get away with pre-social media would invite negative PR in 2018:

And yet, still, the Knicks get shafted, tied with Charlotte and Portland for the most back-to-back sets this year while tied with Chicago for the fewest days with a “rest advantage,” i.e. when the opponent is on the second night of a back-to-back and you’re not:

• If you’re still on the fence as to whether the Knicks are looking to tank this year...the NBA seems to have made up its mind.

• Kyle O’Quinn returns as a Pacer on Halloween. Besides “Pacer,” everything about that sentence is perfect.
• Last summer’s #1 draft pick, Deandre Dayton, will face the Knicks in New York on December 17th. COME GET SOME MITCH, ROOK!
• Carmelo Anthony’s lone Broadway showing will be January 23rd.
• The Miami Heat are in town January 27th and March 30th. Boo them vociferously.
• Your first chance to ogle Luka Doncic is November 2nd when the Knicks are in Dallas. He visits the city he always should have ended up in January 30th.
• David Fizdale returns to Memphis November 25th. I don’t think they’ll boo him. Why would they?
• Human anomaly Mo Bamba and my favorite non-Knick, Jonathan Isaac, come to New York November 11th. Alongside Aaron Gordon, it’s one of your only chances to see this exceptionally large, long and athletic frontcourt.
• If strength of schedule is relevant, the Knicks’ is tougher than most.

• Kawhi Leonard’s first game against New York as a Raptor is Saturday, November 10th, if you’re into that sort of thing...
• November 10th is my birthday. I’ll be turning 40 and channeling Kawhi-level chill as I grow ever more middle-aged.
• The Knicks don’t play on a Thursday until their 26th game of the season, at Boston. They will have played on every other day of the week at least twice before they finally play on a Thursday. I just think that’s neat.

What games are you pumped to see? Is the Knicks’ relatively difficult schedule (as far as rest) a nouveau frozen envelope, designed to help them land a top-three pick in next summer’s draft? Or just a clever ruse to get our hopes up early so they’re dashed into even tinier pieces come the lottery? Speak and be heard, brethren and sisteren!