The NBA has released the schedule for the 2009-2010 season. Although the Magic will not be featured featured on National television on opening night (it will be a double header featuring the Celtics vs. the Cavaliers and the Lakers vs. the Clippers), the Magic will have 24 games featured on either ABC, ESPN, or TNT, the most nationally televised games in franchise history.
The Magic will get a chance to raise their Eastern Conference Championship banner at home on opening night, Wednesday, October 28 in a rematch of their 2009 first round series with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers gave the Magic fits, winning 2 of the first 3 games in that series on buzzer beaters before Orlando took the final 3 games to advance.
Vince Carter returns to Toronto in just Orlando’s third game, a Sunday afternoon affair with the Raptors in Toronto. It will also be the first time Hedo Turkoglu will face his former club since bolting to Toronto during the offseason after spending 5 years with the Magic. Turkoglu’s first return to Orlando will come on December 16.Orlando follows that up with three straight road games.
The Magic will get an early at LeBron and his new running mate, Shaq. Their first date with the rival Cleveland Cavaliers will come in Orlando on November 11 and will be shown on ESPN. The two clubs will also meet on February 11 in Cleveland (TNT), February 21 in Orlando (ABC) and on April 11 in Cleveland (ABC).
The Magic will also face the Boston Celtics 4 times with all 4 games being nationally televised, including Orlando’s 2nd straight appearance on Christmas day. Their first meeting is Friday, November 20 in Boston on ESPN.
Orlando will also play on both Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. They go to Atlanta to face the Hawks on Thanksgiving night on TNT and travel to Minnesota on New Year’s Day.
The Magic will face the always dangerous San Antonio Spurs and their new wing man Richard Jefferson on ESPN in Orlando on March 17 and again on April 2 in San Antonio.
Their first west coast road trip is just 4 games long and will last December 5-11. They travel to Golden State, LA to face the Clippers, Utah, and Phoenix. They’ll head out west or 4 more on January 12 when they take on the Sacramento Kings, the Denver Nuggets (NBATV), The Portland Trail-Blazers(ESPN) and the LA Lakers(TNT).
Their first meeting with the team that defeated the Magic in the Finals, the LA Lakers will take place in Los Angeles on January 18, a 10:30 game on TNT. The two clubs meet again on Sunday, March 7 at 2:30 on ABC in Orlando.
The Magic will also have all 4 battles with Dwayne Wade and instate rival, Miami, that will be broadcast on National TV.
Orlando will end the season the same way they started it – by hosting Philadelphia on April 14.
The Magic don’t have any exceedingly long road trips and have both of the 4 game west coast road trips over by mid January. Magic fans outside of Florida should also be happy because you will get to see your team play 24 times on national television! Every game with rivals Miami, Cleveland, the Lakers and Boston will be on national television as well.
You can see the entire schedule and a very good breakdown of the schedule here.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger.Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily. Check out his ACC Football preview here.)