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Breaking Down the 2015-16 Chicago Bulls Schedule

By Michael Whitlow

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On Wednesday night, the NBA released the full 82-game schedules for all 30 NBA teams. Now that we know what the schedule looks like for the Chicago Bulls, here’s a breakdown of what games to keep your eye on next season.

On Wednesday night, the full 82-game NBA schedule was (finally) released after weeks of anticipation.

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For the Chicago Bulls, it was the same ol’, same ol’ on the schedule — tons of national television appearances, a Christmas Day game, and a long road trip (but not the one you’re thinking about).

The Bulls will appear on national television 23 different times during the 2015-16 season. Only four other teams (Cleveland, Golden State, Los Angeles [Clippers] and Oklahoma City) have more national TV appearances than the Bulls.

With all of that being said, here’s a full breakdown of the 2015-16 for the Bulls:

Opening Night – Oct. 27 vs. Cleveland

If you were expecting anything different, I’m not really sure why you did. It’s the Chicago Bulls. It’s a LeBron James-led team. It’s the opening night of the NBA calendar.

To be honest, it is a tad bit surprising that Cleveland isn’t hosting this game, being that the Cavs eliminated the Bulls in six games last postseason and went on to win the Eastern Conference title. Nonetheless, this game should have a playoff atmosphere right off the bat and should have plenty of fireworks in Game No. 1 of 82 this season. Not many things get Bulls fans going more than LeBron James coming to the United Center.

Plus, a Derrick Rose–Kyrie Irving showdown, along with Jimmy Butler attempting to lock down James for 48 minutes should be fun to kick off the 2015-16 season.

Greetings, Young Wolves – Nov. 7 vs. Minnesota

This game may not break rating records, but personally, seeing this year’s No. 1 overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns, last year’s slam dunk contest champ Zach LaVine and last year’s NBA Rookie of the Year winner Andrew Wiggins all on the same team sounds pretty dang fun to me.

The Bulls will be coming off a national TV performance against Oklahoma City two days prior (more on the Thunder in a bit), so if you’re in the Chicagoland area around this time, swinging on over to the West Side to see this young pack of Timberwolves wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.

The Circus Trip? – Nov. 18-27

I’m sure many noticed that the Bulls do not have a lengthy road trip early on in the season like usual. With talks of the Rocky Wirtz/Jerry Reinsdorf duo not renewing the United Center’s contract to bring the Ringling Bros. Circus back to town in the future.

Having said that, the Bulls still have a four-game road trip in the month of November. The stops include: Phoenix, Golden State, Portland and Indiana. (Both the Phoenix and Golden State games are on ESPN.)

Lotta home action in December – Dec. 2-18

In a span of 16 days in December, the Bulls only leave the United Center once.

The Bulls play a nine-game span from Dec. 2-18, with marquee match-ups including the Clippers, New Orleans (Welcome home, Anthony Davis) and Memphis (Pau vs. Marc). The only time the Bulls leave Chicago in those 16 days? That game comes on Dec. 9 against Boston (another appearance on ESPN).

Merry Christmas, Chicago! – Dec. 25 vs. Oklahoma City

We knew about this game a few days before the schedule was made official, but regardless, it should be one hell of a Christmas gift for Bulls fans and Thunder fans everywhere.

Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler and Joakim Noah taking on Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka should be loads of fun in the five-game fray for the NBA during the holiday season. This game will mark the sixth straight season that the Bulls will have played on Christmas Day, along with the game being the first time since 2011-12 that the Bulls haven’t played on Christmas Day in Chicago.

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    • Happy New Year, Bulls fans! – Jan. 1 vs. New York

    Sure, the New York Knicks are bad, and will be bad for a while, but any time Carmelo Anthony and the Bulls are involved in the same sentence, shades of the 2014 summer are brought back to the light.

    Anthony declined a potential signing with the Bulls and re-signed with the Knicks on a max contract, and the Bulls re-payed him with a beatdown on Opening Night at Madison Square Garden.

    This game will probably be more of the same, but hey, it’s a good way to start the new year off, along with Bulls fans getting their first live look at New York’s first-round draft pick Kristaps Porzingis.

    The lone “four-game-in-five-night” span – Jan. 11-15

    As for the dreaded four games in five nights, the Bulls only have one such span this season. As for their opponents in those games — Washington, at Milwaukee, at Philadelphia and Dallas — three of the four teams made the postseason. Washington and Milwaukee have been recent thorns in the Bulls’ side during the postseason, while Dallas remains competitive under head coach Rick Carlisle and Dirk Nowitzki leading the way.

    NBA All-Star Weekend in Toronto – Feb. 12-14

    The REAL Circus Trip (kinda) – Jan. 18-Feb. 18

    Things will get pretty chaotic for the Bulls after the turn of the new year. Not only will the Bulls play 11 of 14 games in the span of a month away from Chicago, they’ll be playing some tough competition in the process.

    Some of the opponents for the Bulls in the tough road slate including: Cleveland (Jan. 23) and the Clippers (Jan. 31), while the three home games in that span are against some of the NBA’s best: Golden State (Jan. 20), a new and improved Miami team (Jan. 25), and Atlanta (Feb. 10).

    Other notables on the Bulls schedule:

    • Mar. 5-16: Five of six games in a later-season span are against playoff teams from last season – Houston, Milwaukee, at San Antonio, Miami (who will be a playoff team this season), at Toronto and at Washington
    • Mar. 17-23: Four-game homestand against Brooklyn, Utah, Sacramento and New York
    • Mar. 24-Apr. 7: In an eight-game span, six of those games are on the road against New York, Orlando, Indiana, Houston, Milwaukee, Memphis and Miami
    • Apr. 13: Season finale at home vs. Philadelphia

    Next: Michael Jordan's 'The Shot' from a different angle? Yes.

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