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http://www.nba.com/wizards/news/2008-09schedule.html

The Washington Wizards will open the 2008-09 season at Verizon Center on Wednesday, Oct. 29 when they take on the New Jersey Nets at 7:00 p.m. The 2008-09 schedule marks the first time since the 1999-2000 season that the Wizards will tip off the season at home and features 11 national television appearances.
“We’ve had a solid offseason and we’re excited to begin a new season of Wizards basketball with our core players intact and ready to build on what we achieved last year,” said Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld. “We’re looking forward to having our great fans join us as we take the next step in becoming one of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference.”

For the first time in franchise history, the Wizards will play nationally televised games on both Thanksgiving (Nov. 27 vs. Orlando, 8:00 on TNT) and Christmas (Dec. 25 at Cleveland, 8:00 on TNT). Other nationally televised games include Nov. 12 vs. Utah (ESPN, 8:00 p.m.), Nov. 21 vs. Houston (ESPN, 7:00 p.m.), Dec. 11 vs. Boston (TNT, 8:00 p.m.), Jan. 22 at L.A. Lakers (TNT, 10:30 p.m.), Feb. 6 vs. Denver (ESPN, 8:00 p.m.), Feb. 20 at New Jersey (ESPN, 8:00 p.m.), April 2 vs. Cleveland (TNT, 8:00 p.m.), April 8 at Cleveland (ESPN, 7:00 p.m.) and April 10 at Toronto (ESPN2, 8:00 p.m.).

After opening the season at Verizon Center, Eddie Jordan, Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler and company will begin November with road games Nov. 1 at Detroit and Nov. 5 at Milwaukee before playing 14 of their next 22 games at home. Included in that stretch are Michael Beasley’s first game in Washington on Nov. 18 when Southeast Division rival Miami comes to town, Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets’ only visit to the Nation’s Capital on Nov. 21, the lone appearance by Kobe Bryant and the L.A. Lakers on Dec. 5 and the first game against the NBA Champion Boston Celtics on Dec. 11.

The new year begins with a Sunday afternoon playoff rematch against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers at 1:00 p.m. on Jan. 4 and continues with visits by Steve Nash, Shaquille O’Neal and the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 26, Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson and the Denver Nuggets on Feb. 6, Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs on Feb. 21, Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets on March 11 and the second home matchup with the Cavs on April 2. The Wizards’ home finale will be on April 13 vs. Toronto (they will close out the regular season April 15 at Boston).

The Wizards will play 19 of their 41 home contests on the weekend (Friday-Sunday), with three games scheduled for Thursdays. They will host each team in the Eastern Conference twice, with the exception of Boston and Milwaukee (the Wizards will travel to Toronto and Indiana only once). The team’s longest road trip of the season is four games (done three times). All home games will tip off at 7:00 p.m. with the exception of Sunday games (Dec. 21 vs. Dallas at 6:00 p.m., Jan. 4 vs. Cleveland at 1:00 p.m., Feb. 8 vs. Indiana at 6:00 p.m. and March 15 vs. Sacramento at 6:00 p.m.), the game on Jan. 31 vs. L.A. Clippers (8:00 p.m. tip due to an afternoon Capitals game) and the previously mentioned national television games.

Fans looking to see the Wizards in action at Verizon Center can purchase a variety of ticket plans for the 2008-09 season. Full season and partial plans are on sale now with prices as low as $31 for lower level seating and $16 for upper level seating. For more information on these special plans, fans can call the Wizards sales office at 202-661-5050 or visit WashingtonWizards.com. Individual game tickets will go on sale at a later date and will be made available through all Ticketmaster outlets, at the Verizon Center Box Office and online at WashingtonWizards.com.

The Wizards’ preseason schedule and local broadcast schedule will be released at a later date.




Wow, end of the season is going to be brutal!

Christmas at Cleveland on National TV? WTF?

Oh I am so there!!!

Have 17 back-to-backs...two of which are back-to-back-to-back-to-backs. (4 games, 5 days)

Wow, a nationally televised Christmas game? Didn't expect that.

How about the new Wiz motto, "Character Commitment Connection"
It's an improvement over the embarassing "Ready to Rule", but still bad.
I love Philly's motto which reflects their playing style, "Run With Us".

closg00 wrote:How about the new Wiz motto, "Character Commitment Connection"
It's an improvement over the embarassing "Ready to Rule", but still bad.
I love Philly's motto which reflects their playing style, "Run With Us".

Well, how about our playing style..."Weave With Us"....or maybe "Heave With Us"

One nice thing is our West coast road trips are relatively short: 4 games, none of these 5 or 6 game slogs were you're in danger of going 2-4 or even 1-5..

And they're not loaded with the West's best. The 1st trip includes GS, Sac, Lakers, Portland. The 2nd has Okl, San Ant, Dallas and Mini. The last one Utah, Denver, Clips and Suns.

I do think we're being set up as a sacrificial lamb with road games at Cleveland on Xmas Day, and at Boston in the first night of games after New Year's. But it's a good test to see how we handle big time pressure. That Cleveland match is our first game with them since the playoffs. Time to put up or shut up. Winning one of those would be a big statement.

closg00 wrote:How about the new Wiz motto, "Character Commitment Connection"
It's an improvement over the embarassing "Ready to Rule", but still bad.
I love Philly's motto which reflects their playing style, "Run With Us".

Connection?

What is this...

eHarmony?

The Wiz new motto should have been "No More Excuses".

JWizmentality wrote:

closg00 wrote:How about the new Wiz motto, "Character Commitment Connection"
It's an improvement over the embarassing "Ready to Rule", but still bad.
I love Philly's motto which reflects their playing style, "Run With Us".

Well, how about our playing style..."Weave With Us"....or maybe "Heave With Us"

You and Dat killed me, both are great motto's.

closg00 wrote:How about the new Wiz motto, "Character Commitment Connection"
It's an improvement over the embarassing "Ready to Rule", but still bad.
I love Philly's motto which reflects their playing style, "Run With Us".

How is the new motto better than last year's? I just don't see how it is. Does the new one even have anything to do with basketball???

floydfan29 wrote:

closg00 wrote:How about the new Wiz motto, "Character Commitment Connection"
It's an improvement over the embarassing "Ready to Rule", but still bad.
I love Philly's motto which reflects their playing style, "Run With Us".

How is the new motto better than last year's? I just don't see how it is. Does the new one even have anything to do with basketball???

Seriously, the marketing person should be fired. They could have involved the fans by having a big contest for the new motto......but that would have been good marketing.

closg00 wrote:

floydfan29 wrote:

closg00 wrote:How about the new Wiz motto, "Character Commitment Connection"
It's an improvement over the embarassing "Ready to Rule", but still bad.
I love Philly's motto which reflects their playing style, "Run With Us".

How is the new motto better than last year's? I just don't see how it is. Does the new one even have anything to do with basketball???

Seriously, the marketing person should be fired. They could have involved the fans by having a big contest for the new motto......but that would have been good marketing.

Probably too dangerous to let the fans choose, Closg.

We'd end up with "Wizards! Y'all mother **** BETTER ****' beat Cleveland this year"

I think the Wiz's slogan this year should be, "Leave it on the table"

a few things about the schedule...the game on thanksgiving people probably don't realize yet. also, boston only comes once.

and about the marketing slogan, it's going to be the slogan for a few years so get used to it.

Wow, I wasn't prepared to see so many nationally televised games, and certainly didn't expect Thanksgiving and Christmas games. Very excited for that.

Oh, and our slogan for next season has already been announced -- "Ready to rule, but this time we mean it!"

Soup's Uncle wrote:I think the Wiz's slogan this year should be, "Leave it on the table"

wizfan81 wrote:a few things about the schedule...the game on thanksgiving people probably don't realize yet. also, boston only comes once.

and about the marketing slogan, it's going to be the slogan for a few years so get used to it.

Welcome Newbie "Ready to Rule" was only a slogan for one year, you don't know how long the new one will be used.

Maybe a better slogan would be "Ready to Rule, if Healthy".

Dat2U wrote:Maybe a better slogan would be "Ready to Rule, if Healthy".

Nice. Dat, Christmas at the Q?