Thursday 13 December @Portland
The last game of the THIRD ing road trip (4 games) of the first 6 weeks. It's a B2B, and for the cherry on top, it's on TNT.
I wouldn't set an evening aside to watch this game. AGAIN with the pre-Christmas road trip, the third one so far. AGAIN with 5 games in 7 days with two B2Bs, one home/road to start the ing trip.
Oh, and we get one game at home after this, then back out on the road for a B2B with OKC and Denver. you, David Stern.
To recap:
home/road B2B, day off, road game, day off, road B2B, day off,home vs. Boston, day off, road B2B.
8 games in 12 days, mostly roadies, 3 B2Bs.
Pop should rest them again. If you can't rest 36 and 35 year old players on the end a road trip B2B, just because of the need of TV ratings, then this league is really screwed and headed towards the path of wrestling where entertainment trumps real sport.Thursday 13 December @Portland
The last game of the THIRD ing road trip (4 games) of the first 6 weeks. It's a B2B, and for the cherry on top, it's on TNT.
My guess is that while he'd like to send them home, the Big Three will sit there in Portland in sports coats, a stark televised reminder that Pop controls the Spurs, not Stern, and that if they'd like to see the FULL team on TV, they should stop scheduling the games as the last of a road trip AND the second game of a B2B at the same time. That's twice in like 6 weeks of season so far.
Not only has the scheduling been ridiculous, but the Spurs also have the 6th highest Strength Of Schedule to date. It would be one thing if they were being run ragged against a bunch of cupcake teams, but they are doing this against quality opponents. The fact that they've held up so well is definitely encouraging, and will pay dividends once they make it past Christmas and have a treasure trove of home games left.
The only thing that I can say in defense of the schedule-makers is that the Spurs aren't the only ones in this boat. The following teams have all played at least 10 road games so far:
(13)
Denver 4-9
(12)
Indiana 5-7
Portland 4-8
Utah 3-9
Cleveland 2-10
Toronto 1-11
(11)
San Antonio 9-2
New York 7-4
Phoenix 2-9
Detroit 1-10
(10)
Minnesota 4-6
Dallas 3-7
Sure, there have been some ridiculous quirks to the Spurs schedule (like the Miami B2B game), but overall, this is something that more than 1/3rd of the league is dealing with right now. Even one of the league darlings, the Knicks, got saddled with it. It's not about favoritism (although it is interesting to note that Miami and both L.A. teams have only played 7 or 8 so far) or vendettas, it's about an epidemic problem with the length of the season, the short span it is packed into, and the way the schedulers leverage those two factors. It will continue to be a problem until they reduce the number of games (won't happen), shorten the pre-season (also probably won't happen), start allowing more Thursday games (which TNT's contract probably denies), or somehow find a better algorithm to schedule by.
Until then, Spurs just have to look at the positives...1) they are one of only two teams in this situation to have a winning road record, and 2) all those teams who are taking it easy now are going to have to make it up later in the heart of the season, while the Spurs are kicking back in San Antonio.
Do the Spurs have a super-easy second half of the schedule, or is it more of the same?
Pop should bench the starters after the tipoff in Portland.
The post RRT schedule is great. 17 of the final 24 games are at home. From Feb 25 to Mar 31, a span of five weeks, the Spurs leave San Antonio for two single game road trips, one of them to Houston. They don't leave the Central Time Zone until April 9.
Notice how that list excludes the Lakers, the Heat and the Thunder.
On December 12th Pop will release a statement that after a lengthy deliberation to determine the appropriate action, Duncan and Parker were sent home as punishment for their actions at Jack's Halloween party which reflect poorly on the league. Due to the notoriously mercurial temperment of the two stars Popovich will assign one of it's most senior and most respected players, Manu Ginobili, to accompany them back to San Antonio and personally assure that they do not cause any trouble in transit. While regrettable that the they could not be trusted to behave themselves without team supervision, Pop understands that left to their own devices they will likely only embarrass the league further.
Good stuff.
Email this to the spurs front office. this would be awesome!
I think even Pop (in a sober moment) would rather have a restful, home-loaded schedule heading into the playoffs. The schedule looks pretty favorable in that regard. As an added bonus, the team gets more time to gell on the road early when road games are most useful to build team comaraderie and chemistry.
And they'll be on those draining road trips heading into the playoffs.
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