NBA Schedule breakdown: Most television games, most back-to-backs, toughest schedule and more

Los Angeles Lakers v Golden State Warriors

The NBA schedule is here and we have a lot to talk about (and we needed it in the doldrums of the offseason). We’ve already broken down the 20 can’t-miss games.

Now let’s get into the details, the analytics and break down the entire schedule. Let’s see who “won” the schedule release with the fewest back-to-backs, and who is on national television the most (you probably could have guessed that last part… and sorry Thunder fans).

Here’s a breakdown of the NBA schedule.

• The league knows what people want to see — LeBron James and Stephen Curry. Here are the teams with the most nationally televised games (ESPN, TNT, ABC and NBA TV):

Lakers 39
Warriors 36
Celtics 34
Knicks 34
Mavericks 30
Suns 30
Nuggets 29
Bucks 27
76ers 27
Timberwolves 25
Thunder 25

• Remove NBA TV from the list (not everyone has that channel or the cable to get it) and go just with ESPN/ABC/TNT games, and the list shifts around a little (Boston jumps up to second). Here is that top 10:

Lakers 29
Celtics 26
Warriors 24
Knicks 24
Mavericks 23
Nuggets 22
76ers 21
Suns 19
Bucks 18
Timberwolves 18

• The league will not have teams play the day before or after “high-profile national TV games.”

• Eleven teams are tied for most back-to-backs, 16: Hawks, Cavaliers, Nuggets, Rockets, Clippers, Bucks, Pelicans, Thunder, Suns, Kings and Wizards.

• Six teams are tied for the fewest back-to-backs with 13: Celtics, Bulls, Mavericks, Lakers, Magic, Trail Blazers.

• The league average for back-to-backs is 14.9.

• Again there are zero 4-in-5 night situations.

• Positive Residual (a must for serious NBA fans) broke down the schedule based on opponents, travel, rest advantage/disadvantage games, back-to-back and more and concluded these were the five teams with the easiest strength of schedule:

Denver
Indiana
Orlando
Boston
New York

• Positive Residual’s five toughest schedules, based on that same criteria:

Portland
Los Angeles Clippers
Houston
Phoenix
Brooklyn

• Positive Residual also has the Warriors and Bulls with a league-best +4 in rest advantage games (compared to rest disadvantage games).

• The Suns are a league-worst -4 on…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-schedule-breakdown-most-television-002450042.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2024-08-16 00:24:50

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