All this week at Crossover Chronicles, we’re going to unpack a specific component of the NBA schedule.
It is widely — I’d say universally — acknowledged that the league and commissioner Adam Silver have done a very good job of improving the schedule in terms of easing the amount of stress and strain placed on players. Substantial forward steps have been taken. Silver “gets it” in terms of tweaking the schedule to create better basketball across more games. Silver “gets it” in terms of giving coaches fewer reasons to rest pairs or trios of players for whole games during “4-in-5” sets. The NBA should be applauded for what it has done, and that should be emphasized.
However, this does not mean all problems have been solved.
Last week, in our initial rollout of NBA schedule analysis, we focused in part on day games (those starting before 6 p.m. Eastern as a league-wide demarcation point) and the imbalances which exist in that area. One should never expect any NBA team to schedule day games during the week — it happens in the WNBA, but that’s because large groups of kids at Boys and Girls Clubs or other organizations can go on a field trip to an arena during the summer. In the NBA, it would be patently ridiculous to insist on a Thursday afternoon “getaway day.” That’s for baseball, not hoops or hockey. The NBA is a winter sport and, hence, a night sport.
On weekends, it can still be a night sport, but common sense should enter the picture a little more often.
If a team happens to have a weekend back-to-back, which — for purposes of laying out specific parameters — is either Saturday-Sunday or Sunday-Monday, the start time of that first game should matter.
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Before going further, a quick aside about why Friday-Saturday is not considered — within this discussion — a weekend back-to-back: Friday must have a nighttime start, since weekdays have already been established as universal night games (except for holidays). Therefore, if the front end of a back-to-back has a late start, the back end must also have a late start. There is no real debate to be had about when either half of the back-to-back should start.
Weekend back-to-backs are confined to the subset of back-to-backs starting on a weekend day. The start of the back-to-back determines the definition, not the end of the back-to-back.
With that brief explanation out of the way, let’s continue.
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The weekend back-to-back marks the one time during a team’s schedule when day games should regularly enter into the picture on the front end. In a Saturday-Sunday stack, the Saturday game should be a day game to allow for more travel time preceding the back end on Sunday. In a Sunday-Monday stack, the reality of Sunday being the front end of the back-to-back should similarly lead to an early tip time, which allows for more recuperation time on the back end.
We’re going to examine all the weekend back-to-backs for each NBA team in the 2015-2016 schedule. We’re going to identify the ones that are handled properly, and the ones that are not handled properly. We’ll take each division separately, and then we’ll make some conference- and league-wide assessments. That’s coming up in the next eight days here at Crossover Chronicles.
Let’s begin with our first division, and make this brief statement: In a Sunday-Monday back-to-back, there should never be any debate about the Monday tip time (since it’s a weekday), so the Monday tip time won’t be listed. In a Saturday-Sunday back-to-back, however, the fact that both games are weekend games makes it worthwhile to list the Sunday tip time as well. This explains the difference you’ll see in the information presented below:
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WEEKEND BACK-TO-BACKS: ATLANTIC DIVISION
BOSTON CELTICS
Sunday, Nov. 15: at OKC, 7 Eastern
Monday, Nov. 16: at HOU
Verdict: poorly handled
Sunday, Nov. 29: at ORL, 6 Eastern
Monday, Nov. 30: at MIA
Verdict: poorly handled
Saturday, Dec. 26: at DET, 7:30 Eastern
Sunday, Dec. 27: vs. NY, 6
Verdict: poorly handled
Sunday, Feb. 21: at DEN, 5 Eastern
Monday, Feb. 22: at MIN
Verdict: properly handled
Sunday, March 20: at PHI, 6 Eastern
Monday, March 21: at ORL
Verdict: poorly handled
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BROOKLYN NETS
Saturday, Nov. 28: at CLE, 7:30 Eastern
Sunday, Nov. 29: vs. DET, 6
Verdict: poorly handled
Sunday, Dec. 20: vs. MIN, 1 Eastern
Monday, Dec. 21: at CHI
Verdict: properly handled
Sunday, April 10: at IND, 6 Eastern
Monday, April 11: vs. WASH
Verdict: poorly handled
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NEW YORK KNICKS
Saturday, Dec. 26: at ATL, 7:30 Eastern
Sunday, Dec. 27: at BOS, 6
Verdict: poorly handled
Saturday, March 19: at WASH, 7 Eastern
Sunday, March 20: vs. SAC, 7:30
Verdict: poorly handled
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PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
Sunday, Dec. 13: at TOR, 6 Eastern
Monday, Dec. 14: at CHI
Verdict: poorly handled
Saturday, Jan. 9: vs. TOR, 7:30 Eastern
Sunday, Jan. 10: vs. CLE, 6
Verdict: poorly handled
Sunday, Feb. 28: at ORL, 6 Eastern
Monday, Feb. 29: at WASH
Verdict: poorly handled
Sunday, March 20: vs. BOS, 6 Eastern
Monday, March 21: at IND
Verdict: poorly handled
Saturday, March 26: at POR, 10 Eastern
Sunday, March 27: at GSW, 8
Verdict: poorly handled
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TORONTO RAPTORS
Saturday, Nov. 28: at WASH, 7 Eastern
Sunday, Nov. 29: vs. PHX, 6
Verdict: poorly handled
Sunday, Dec. 13: vs. PHI, 6 Eastern
Monday, Dec. 14: at IND
Verdict: poorly handled
Sunday, Jan. 3: vs. CHI, 3:30 Eastern
Monday, Jan. 4: at CLE
Verdict: properly handled
Sunday, Feb. 21: vs. MEM, 6 Eastern
Monday, Feb. 22: at NY
Verdict: poorly handled
