Weird Schedules

[Xylus]

So I'm looking at the Suns' schedule, and it is retardedly difficult in November and December, and then retardedly easy in January and most of February. 17 of their first 26 games are on the road.

And to compare, I checked the Lakers' schedule. 17 of their first 21 games are at home. That's 17 home games, 4 road games. Then they spend the remaining few months of the season on the road mainly.

Who the fuck came up with these schedules?

Any other strange occurrences on your team's schedule?

[TDMVPDPOY]

stern did that shit with the fakers last season, watever it takes to get them into the playoffs...fuck that

[Allanon]

There's a logical reason for the Lakers schedule and it mostly has to do with sharing the Arena.

They share Staples with the Clippers, Kings and the Grammys. The Grammy's take about 2 weeks out of January. And on top of this, they are also on National TV alot so they have to work with National TV schedules which only air on certain days like Holidays/Thursdays/Fridays/Sundays.

Not much different than the Spurs Annual Rodeo road trip so the Spurs usually start out the season with many home games as well. The Clippers also have quite a few early home games.

On the reverse side, the Lakers spend some huge amounts of time away in January into February. Happens to both the Lakers and the Clips. The Lakers have an 8 game road trip and two 5 game roadies. Not easy.

Not sure if this is an advantage as they get to face the hard teams once they've had time to gel and things get serious.

[Allanon]

I forgot, Pac-10 tourney is also in Staples Center. The article goes on to say that teams get an advantage playing the Lakers in the Clips in subsequent games. Spurs are going to get to play the Lakers and Clips on the same trip with no extra travel needed:

"Winick said it was a result of trying to fit games into an incredibly busy arena, which also is home to the NHL's Los Angeles Kings and hosts events such as the Grammy Awards and the Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball tournament during the NBA season.

So it turned into a break for the three teams that got to play these double-dips in November. Usually a back-to-back game means arriving at the next city in the middle of the night, perhaps with a time zone shift. It's physically draining and mentally disorienting."

"It was a rare scheduling quirk that could only happen at Staples Center (the lone arena to host two NBA teams)"

""Good thing about this is you don't have to leave the hotel," Hornets coach Byron Scott said, before New Orleans played the Clippers a day after losing to the Lakers. "You don't have to get on a plane and go to a different setting. So it has its advantages."

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/10507/to-play-and-play-in-l-a

[KSeal]

Yeah, last year the Lakers and Clippers had long ass road trips, like 9 or 10 games cause of some stupid ice skating competition at Staples. All that kind of bullshit always fucks up the Lakers and Clippers schedule.

[angelbelow]

who knows

[Chieflion]

The Spurs always have the Rodeo Road Trip. This results in most of the home games being played early in the season and the Spurs go on the road mostly after the all star break.

[pauls931]

The suns are doing ok so far. It's looking like they'll escape this tough schedule with a winning record. So oh well... I'm sure LA and Portland will give them a couple L's but other than that it looks like they'll do good.

[IronMexican]

In the end, it's all the same. Lakers got a cupcake schedule till the new year.

[IronMexican]

Yeah, last year the Lakers and Clippers had long ass road trips, like 9 or 10 games cause of some stupid ice skating competition at Staples. All that kind of bullshit always fucks up the Lakers and Clippers schedule.

I thought they always had some long road trip cause of the award shows in the Staples? Just like SA has some 8 game road trip every year cause, I think, the rodeo is in town?

[Allanon]

Another scheduling quirk, the Lakers are playing the other Top West teams on a back to back.

Suns tomorrow on TNT
Nuggz on Friday on ESPN

This is an example of how the Lakers being on National TV actually is a scheduling disadvantage because NATL TV only airs NBA games on certain days. To fit in the Lakers on both TNT and ESPN, they had to do a back to back.

Taking on two elite teams in 2 days on National TV is great for the fans but might hurt the Lakers in the rankings.

[cobbler]

stern did that shit with the fakers last season, watever it takes to get them into the playoffs...fuck that

and you know nothing of what you are talking about. They have 41 at home and 41 away just like any other team. They have more back to back than any. As Allanon said, its due to the Staples Center being busy for other events. In fact, it would be better to have the road trips at the start of the season when your rested and relatively uninjured.

But you keep your hater/moron glasses on. They are befitting.

[Chieflion]

and you know nothing of what you are talking about. They have 41 at home and 41 away just like any other team. They have more back to back than any. As Allanon said, its due to the Staples Center being busy for other events. In fact, it would be better to have the road trips at the start of the season when your rested and relatively uninjured.

But you keep your hater/moron glasses on. They are befitting.
Actually, 43 games at home and 39 away. But, what do I know about the fan atmosphere in Staples?