Ball bros headline Bulls-Hornets ‘Rivals Week' matchup

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The NBA is taking some new initiatives with the 2022-23 regular-season schedule, and the Chicago Bulls are part of several.

Here is a rundown of noteworthy dates and trends:

Ball Brother Bash

NBA Rivals Week begins Jan. 24, featuring 11 games where either longstanding or budding rivalries, or fun matchups with key players, move into the spotlight.

The Bulls’ Jan. 26 matchup at the Charlotte Hornets is part of this idea, where brothers Lonzo and LaMelo Ball face off at the point guard position.

The Bulls finished last season 2-1 against the Hornets, but Lonzo only appeared in one of the games — a highly entertaining 133-119 win in Chicago on Nov. 29. Lonzo posted 16 points, 8 assists and four made 3-pointers, while LaMelo notched an 18-point, 13 assist double-double.

The 2023 game is part of a three-game trip for the Bulls, who will have recently returned from their matchup with the Detroit Pistons in Paris on Jan. 19.

Election Day

In a new twist, the NBA will stage no games for Election Day on Nov. 8. But all 30 teams play on Nov. 7, including the Bulls’ matchup with the Toronto Raptors at the United Center.

On this day, the league will promote voter participation and highlight teams’ civic engagements. Ahead of the 2020 Presidential Election, the Bulls and Blackhawks facilitated transforming the United Center into the largest polling place in the state of Illinois, offering same-day voter registration, a mail-in ballot dropoff box and the opportunity to cast a ballot to any Chicago resident, regardless of jurisdiction.

Fair Finale

The NBA also will feature a new approach to the regular-season finale on April 9. Not only will all 30 teams play. But the seven Eastern Conference and one interconference game will tipoff at Noon Central, while the seven Western Conference games will begin at 2:30 p.m. Central. This is designed to ensure competitive balance if playoff seedings are in the balance.

The Bulls close the regular season on April 9 at home against the Pistons.

RELATED: NBA Schedule: 6 must-watch Bulls games in 2022-23

Back-to-Backs

Finally, the Bulls sit just over the league average of 13.3 back-to-back sets of games, which is down from last season’s mark of 13.5 sets. The Bulls have 15 sets of back-to-back games.

As recently as 2014-15, the league average stood at 19.3 per game. This is another example of the NBA attempting to maximize player performance and recovery, which also has featured an emphasis on travel reduction.

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