As the network with the most regular season games, it should be no surprise that ESPN will feature more teams during the 2010-11 NBA season than either sibling ABC or competitor TNT.
While ESPN will load up on games involving the usual suspects, the network’s schedule also features multiple appearances by the Warriors (six), Clippers (four), Bucks (four), Grizzlies (three) and Bobcats (two), with one game each for the Kings, Cavaliers, Pacers and Pistons.
Of course, the league’s biggest draws will make the most appearances, with the Lakers, Celtics, Heat each scheduled for ten. The Mavericks, Nuggets and Suns will also make the maximum ten appearances, while the Bulls, Spurs, Thunder and Trail Blazers are set to appear nine times.
In what will no doubt be perceived as a slight by Stan Van Gundy, the Magic are scheduled for eight appearances on ESPN, the same as the Knicks and Jazz.
As previously announced, ESPN will air Bulls/Grizzlies on Martin Luther King Day, the network’s first NBA telecast on the holiday. Meanwhile, ESPN2 will air a doubleheader (Rockets/Bobcats and Warriors/Grizzlies) on the day after Thanksgiving, the network’s only games of the season.
(ESPN)
