Utah Jazz schedule has breaks, bumps

The end of the NBA season looks kinda hairy, with a slew of away games for the Utah Jazz. Their schedule, which was released Wednesday, also includes 21 sets of back-to-back contests and three five-game road trips.

Heck, Jerry Sloan's 20th-year coaching anniversary will even happen in Minnesota instead of Utah (not that he'll likely mind that, no doubt).

But the Jazz appear to have received a bit of a scheduling break for one aspect of the 2008-09 NBA regular season, which begins on Oct. 28.

The Jazz, who open this season at EnergySolutions Arena against Denver on Oct. 29, will only have to face the defending NBA Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers, the Southwest Division champion New Orleans Hornets and the San Antonio Spurs three times apiece. However, the Spurs and Lakers will only play in Utah once each.

The Jazz will also only see the Los Angeles Clippers three times, but will play all other Western Conference teams four times in the regular season.

Utah will take on each Eastern Conference squad twice, with 2007-08 NBA champion Boston coming to town on Feb. 19 and LeBron James and Cleveland visiting Jan. 24.

The first of the Jazz's 11 nationally televised games will be Nov. 11 at Washington on ESPN, which will air four other Utah games. Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer and crew will be featured on TNT six times, including in the regular-season finale with the Lakers in L.A. on April 14.

Utah's first road game will be against the Clippers at Staples Center on Nov. 3. The Jazz, who struggled to a 17-24 road record last season, finish the season away from Utah in 14 of their final 23 games. December is another road-heavy month, with the annual pre-Christmas excursion taking place from Dec. 15-23 in Boston, New Jersey, Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee. Utah has four other road games in December with only six home dates.

Utah's preseason slate includes seven games just two at home, with the first one coming on Oct. 9 against the Phoenix Suns. The Jazz's preseason schedule begins Oct. 7 against the Lakers in Anaheim. The Jazz will also face the Chicago Bulls twice in Illinois once at Williams' old stomping grounds at the University of Illinois in Champaign before wrapping up the preseason at home against Portland on Oct. 23.

The Jazz will be on the road for Sloan's 20th head coaching anniversary game on Dec. 9 at Minnesota. Another road game of note will take place on Jan. 14, when Utah visits Oklahoma City to play the relocated Seattle SuperSonics.

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2008-09 Utah Jazz Regular Season Schedule