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File Lakers Schedule Under Quirky

There's been much schedule talk to start this NBA season.  Too much.  Lots of people complaining about the Lakers starting with 17-21 at home.  Lately, some Laker supporters (myself included) have countered that home/road doesn't matter as much as playing decent teams, and the Lakers, despite having the best record in the league, also sport the 3rd highest Strength of Schedule in the league currently, which is pretty incredible if only from a numerical standpoint.  Nearly every time the Lakers play somebody, that team ends up with a loss, and yet the Lakers opponent's winning pct is well above .500, so the Lakers' opponents so far this season must be beating everybody else.

Regardless, the Lakers' schedule debate has already been played out, and I certainly don't want to get into another round of the same argument.  Anybody looking to see if the Lakers will be able to continue their success away from home no longer needs to wait.  The corresponding road-heavy portion of the schedule, made necessary by the home-heavy early schedule (or vice-versa, nobody really knows), has arrived.  After tonight's final curtain call, the Lakers play 19 of 28 on the road, which will bring their Home/Away split to 25/21, well within acceptable limits of normalcy.

But in reviewing the Lakers schedule, I noticed something weird about the next 9 games.  8 of the next 9 games will be back-to-back situations.

Star-divide

Before anyone cries foul, let me point out that it's not nearly as bad a thing as it sounds.  The Lakers are not playing 9 games in 12 days or anything crazy like that.  There are three sets of back to back games, all in a row, followed by a single game, followed by another back-to back set.  But each consecutive back to back is spaced out with two days off in between the games.  So, overall, this 9 game stretch will be played at an average of a game every other day, well within what is considered normal.  So ... why not just play the games every other day?

This isn't a good thing.  It's not a bad thing.  The Lakers don't have a lot more back to backs than other teams.   In terms of back to backs, the Lakers are actually just slightly below average.  And since the back-to-backs are spread out fairly, I don't really see how one could call it a negative.  I also don't see how anybody could call it a positive.  It's just ... quirky.  Like Zoey Deschanel or toe socks.  Yet another strange schedule development in what is becoming a season filled with them.  So thanks, NBA, for keeping us Laker fans on our toes with weird schedule developments that will probably end up being irrelevant.

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Quick edits

“well about .500” – above
“sesaon” – season
“Zoey Deschannel” – Zoey Deschanel

As a viewer, I actually like back-to-backs and then 2 days of rest (for me!). I also like the early road starts, because then I can start watching on my DVR right when I get home from work and fast forward all the commercials, and therefore finish watching the game in less time than if I had to watch live!

"This is not a game for boys. This is a game for men." - Phil Jackson

by Gils_Keloids on Dec 11, 2009 9:56 AM PST reply actions  

Edit fail

The stupid preview function is crashing my computer and it’s a lot harder to see mistakes in the post editor.

Or I’m just an idiot.

by C.A. Clark on Dec 11, 2009 10:09 AM PST up reply actions  

Ugh I just looked it up and it's "Zooey"

But whatever, man, I just like to edit. It’s easier to read than write this stuff.

Good post, too, the Lakers really do have a peculiar schedule set-up this year.

"This is not a game for boys. This is a game for men." - Phil Jackson

by Gils_Keloids on Dec 11, 2009 10:28 AM PST up reply actions  

Lakers

are takin it! road games,home games,games played on mars,injuries,off shooting nights. dont matter we takin it all

YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD YES!
www.reverbnation.com/czheckproductions

by Czheck on Dec 11, 2009 10:13 AM PST reply actions  

time to end that easy schedule talk

road games dont worry me since we are a good road team.

" I'm a human, not a sandwich"

by true_lakerfan on Dec 11, 2009 11:51 AM PST reply actions  

Actually, the Lakers have a terrible schedule.

“Why do they keep getting smaller Western Conference contenders on a TNT late game with an opponent coming off a back-to-back?”

I was silent on the issue, but we need to nip this “favorable schedule” thing in the bud. The reality is, those national games actually play against the Lakers.

They have the most back-2-backs on the road (the hardest games to win) at 18. Cleveland, Boston, Orlando and Denver have 11, 11, 13, and 15 respectively.

They actually catch opponents on a back-2-back the least amount as well (only 9 times, and only 3 of those are at Staples). This is 5 less games than the next unfortunate team (Portland and Oklahoma at 14). Compare this with Denver, who catches tired opponents an astonishing 24 times.

by atung on Dec 11, 2009 1:32 PM PST reply actions  

Top 10 Teams with Strength of Schedule

C.A, as of right now, the Lakers actually have the 5th highest SoS. They are third highest in the top 15 teams, but the Hornets and Pistons are just a little higher with .543 and .542 respectively.

Lakers – .537
Celtics – .457
Magic – .475
Hawks – .522
Cavaliers – .467
Nuggets – .413
Suns – .499
Thunder – .554
Rockets – .566
Mavericks – .475

These are the top 10 according to Hollinger’s Rankings by the way.

by stephens on Dec 11, 2009 3:22 PM PST reply actions  

plus the lakers cant play the lakers to increase their SOS

while the hornets and pistons have played them and increased their by a lot cause of our great record..

by matthewmafa on Dec 11, 2009 4:32 PM PST up reply actions  

Meh, that's part of SOS

That’s why I was saying it’s really quite impressive that the Lakers opponents have such a high winning pct. The Lakers winning a lot of games directly causes their SOS to be lower. That’s why all the other top teams have such a low SOS respectively. That, and they play in the East

by C.A. Clark on Dec 11, 2009 4:45 PM PST up reply actions  

yeah, I agree with the comment on the East

It’s pretty sad when 6, 7, and 8 can make the playoffs below .500.

by stephens on Dec 11, 2009 5:30 PM PST up reply actions  

It's more than that

Last season, the East struggled to get teams over .500 for the playoffs as well. But, the Eastern teams that didn’t make the playoffs all managed to win 25-30 games. Meanwhile, Phoenix missed the playoffs with a great record, but 6 of the 7 worst records in the NBA were in the West.

This year, The East’s top is just as limited, with the bottom playoff teams still below .500, but a huge chunk of the worst teams in the league are also Eastern teams. 7 of the 9 worst records in the league are in the east, including all 4 of the teams in the Atlantic besides Boston.

It’s funny because early in the season I said that the Pacific might be the worst division in basketball. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

by C.A. Clark on Dec 12, 2009 11:45 AM PST up reply actions  

well, i’ll be honest, even i a local fan think we are playing way too many home games this early in the season. i want to get this show on the road, play some stiff competition—spurs, jazz, nuggets, blazers, celtics, magic—and see us get tested. before we lose, i would like us to put up at least 15 or 16 straight wins, which is what i predicted. anyhow, what i want really doesn’t matter. what happens now doesn’t matter. we are still winning the title at the end of the season, provided kobe, gasol, bynum, odom remain healthy.

by chaucer on Dec 11, 2009 5:22 PM PST reply actions  

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