The NBA released its league-wide 2012-13 preseason schedule on Wednesday afternoon and as expected, the Knicks will play their five games away from Madison Square Garden.
As Phase II of the three-phase renovation of Madison Square Garden marches on through the summer and into the fall, the Knicks will play only one true road game during the preseason against the Washington Wizards on Oct. 11 at the Verizon Center.
After the trip to Washington, the Knicks will play four games at neutral sites, beginning with the Boston Celtics at the XL Center in Hartford.
A trip to the Bell Center, home of the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, to take on the Toronto Raptors will follow on Oct. 19. That game is part of the NBA Canada Series, which will also include a game between the Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves at the MTS Centre, home of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets, on Oct. 24.
Those two games will mark the first time the league has ever played preseason games north of the border.
The Knicks will close the preseason with matchups against the Boston Celtics on Oct. 20 at the Times Union Center in Albany and against the Brooklyn Nets on Oct. 24 at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.
Reports surfaced last month that the Knicks and Nets would open the preseason at Nassau Coliseum on Oct. 9, but they will close the preseason instead. The two teams will also open the regular season against each other on Nov. 1 at the newly-built Barclays Center in Brooklyn on TNT.
The schedule is as follows:
Date Opponent Arena Time
Oct. 11…… @ Washington Wizards………. Verizon Center, Washington, D.C……………………….. 7:00 p.m.
Oct. 13…… @ Boston Celtics……………… XL Center, Hartford, CT………………………………….. 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 19…… @ Toronto Raptors…………… Bell Centre, Montreal, Canada…………………………… 7:00 p.m.
Oct. 20…… @ Boston Celtics……………… Times Union Center, Albany, NY………………………… 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 24…… @ Brooklyn Nets……………… Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY………………………… 7:30 p.m.
