The significance of the game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Indiana Pacers has far surpassed that of an ordinary regular season game.
The game is scheduled for January 25th, and on the same day, the league only has two games, the other one being last season's finals matchup between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz.
The reason for this scheduling by the league is the hope that both games can serve as heavyweight duels and compete for viewership against the NFL's Super Bowl.
On that day, the NFL season had already entered its final stages, with the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers competing for the Super Bowl.
Nowadays, the Super Bowl is the most influential single sports event in America, humorously referred to as "America's Spring Festival Gala," with no other event able to compete with it.
Even if the NBA schedules games on this day, they have to push the game times to the afternoon instead of evening, otherwise, the viewership would be severely affected.
