The 2011-2012 Schedule: A Song of Despair

Posted by Hayes Davenport on Dec 7, 2011 228152 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2011%2F12%2F07%2Fthe-2011-2012-schedule-a-song-of-despair%2FThe+2011-2012+Schedule%3A+A+Song+of+Despair2011-12-07+12%3A00%3A51Hayes+Davenporthttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D22815

Hey, just curious: does anyone here like complaining about unfair NBA scheduling?

You do? That’s awesome, me too! Because If I’m going to expend energy on something, I prefer it to be something I can’t change and that probably doesn’t matter that much to begin with.

Ryan already pointed out some crappy things about the Celtics’ schedule in his earlier post. But things can always be made to look crappier with some elbow grease, and this schedule is no exception! Here are three less obvious downers from the Celtics’ schedule to help you maximize your delicious misery.

THE ROAD TRIP IS EVEN WORSE THAN IT LOOKS

That eight-game West Coast trip at the end of March is the eye-catchingest part of the schedule, for sure. All those jazzy little @’s. But that road trip is actually way, way worse than the schedule implies. Because it’s not actually an eight-game road trip.

It’s a 16-game road trip.

Sort of. Look at it this way: starting March 6th vs. Houston, the Celtics will be traveling between every game until April 1st against Miami. They’ve got five games at home in that stretch, so my calling it a 16-game road trip is definitely an exaggeration and possibly a straight-up lie. But still…they’ll be traveling in between every game.

It actually gets even worse, though!

After that Miami game on April 1st, the Celtics have another home game against the Spurs on the 4th…and then they travel between every game until April 24th…also against Miami.

Isn’t one of the things that makes a road trip such a grueling bitch the constant traveling? So doesn’t it seem a little harsh that the Celtics will spend only one set of games at home from March 6th to April 24th?

Beautiful segue into the next whine!

THERE ARE NO HOME BACK-TO-BACKS

Yes. Of Boston’s 21 back-to-backs (guh), every single one is either on the road or split between home and away. That means that the Celtics will have traveled the night before every SEGABABA.*

*Okay, they have two consecutive nights at the Staples Center. I’m going to arbitrarily not count that. WHO’S WITH ME?

The lack of home back-to-backs is not entirely the result of the schedulers being stupid jerks. Pretty much all the teams have more than half of their SEGABABAs on the road. There’s a lot of packing games together on cross-country road trips going on this season.

But the Celtics, in my cursory unscientific survey, are the only team without any home back-to-backs. The average seems to be about three, and some teams get a lot more. For example, of Miami’s 20 back-to-backs, 7 are both at home.

Wow, another perfect bridge between whines!

MIAMI AND CHICAGO HAVE AN EASIER SCHEDULE

Miami and Chicago both have:

• Fewer total back-to-backs than the Celtics
• Fewer road SEGABABAS
• Fewer sets of 3 games in 4 days
• More games after one day of rest
• More games after 2 days of rest

Both schedules are also super front-loaded in terms of density and road games. For more information on how crazily back-loaded the Celtics’ schedule is, refer to the first whine above.

The schedulers did sort of kneecap Miami in one respect: they’ve got 32 games where their opponent will have rested the day before. That’s highest in the league. Chicago’s is just way easier. Easiest in the league, in terms of opponent win percentage.

This has been super fun. Can’t believe I have to wait an entire year for the next scheduling day!