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5 best NBA League Pass games of the week: Oct. 24-30

By Cody Williams

Apr 18, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) drives the ball during the third quarter as Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) defends in game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 18, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) drives the ball during the third quarter as Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) defends in game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /
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Looking at the NBA League Pass games of the week for Oct. 24-30, the first week of the 2016-17 season

In the name of Gregg Popovich, the 2016-17 NBA season is finally upon us. We’ve weathered a roundball-less summer and now Naismith’s game is finally ready to be digested, dissected, and divulged once again.

There’s no need to rehash the narratives of the offseason. You know that Kevin Durant now plays for the Golden State Warriors and they’re going to be absurd. Yes, Cleveland finally has a championship. We’ll miss you, Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant. Now it’s time for the actual basketball to be played.

When it comes to teams like the Warriors and Cavs, though, you can catch them many nights on national TV. However, other teams aren’t as fortunate. That’s where the beautiful invention of NBA League Pass comes into play.

However, it can sometimes be a difficult daily and weekly decision trying to decipher which League Pass games you need to be watching. So at least a bit, we’ll help you out all season, serving up the five best NBA League Pass games of the week.

Here are the games for Oct. 24-30, the first week of the season:

Oct 3, 2016; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) drives to the basket on Utah Jazz guard Rodney Hood (5) and forward Gordon Hayward (20) during the first quarter at the Moda Center at the Rose Quarter. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 3, 2016; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) drives to the basket on Utah Jazz guard Rodney Hood (5) and forward Gordon Hayward (20) during the first quarter at the Moda Center at the Rose Quarter. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports /

5. Jazz at Trail Blazers – Tuesday, Oct. 25 (10 p.m. ET)

Plenty of hype surrounded the Utah Jazz going into last season and rightfully so. However, a plague of injuries that started with Dante Exum tearing his ACL in the offseason began and never relented. Thus, they were left just outside the playoff picture. Now they’ve added George Hill, have more depth, and are healthy coming into the 2016-17 NBA season. Suffice it to say that this is a team with big expectations from those in the know.

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What’s intriguing about the only League Pass game on NBA Opening Night, though, is the fact that this same Jazz team faces off with a Portland Trail Blazers team that no one expected to be where they ended up last season. Following LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum either leaving or being traded away and then Portland’s appeared inability to compensate for that loss, many people projected a huge drop-off. However, Terry Stotts is a wizard (Harry). Thus, Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and company all made it right back to the postseason and were a ton of fun doing so.

Now with the omni-present Evan Turner on the roster (and hopefully Festus Ezeli as well, if he can get healthy), the Blazers are going to be quality once again. Thus, we have a matchup of potential Western Conference dark horses right out of the gate. Sure, you won’t want to miss out on Spurs-Warriors that starts a half-hour later. But you should certainly have League Pass fired up with this game rolling simultaneously with that.

Matchup to Watch: Everyone (POR) vs Rudy Gobert (UTA)

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