Carmelo Anthony's lapse to Denver is behind for another year. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade won't be visiting Sacramento anytime soon. Fans in Chicago will usually be saying Kobe Bryant on radio this season.
The NBA sought rival balance. What it got was news imbalance.
One of a many consequences of a lockout, besides hundreds of mislaid games and hundreds of millions of mislaid dollars, was a tradition that any group plays in any NBA city during slightest once per season. That's not a box this year.
While teams will revisit any other group in their possess conference, they will usually make trips to play 9 clubs from a other side of a joining instead of a common 15.
It's one of many quirks of a 66-game news that, in a accumulation of ways, is not like any other in NBA history.
"In some cases, a group business-type competence protest that they didn't get (to host) a Heat or a Lakers," NBA Commissioner David Stern said. "While in a background, a manager is doing cartwheels. So it's kind of an engaging dynamic."
There's no necessity of those.
Reigning scoring aristocrat Kevin Durant forsaken 66 points in New York progressing this year â€" alas, during Rucker Park, a legendary outside justice and not Madison Square Garden. He and Oklahoma City won't be going to play a Knicks this season.
The NBA champion Dallas Mavericks won't be going to Charlotte, nor will Durant's Thunder, Bryant's Lakers or a Spurs, and that will keep sheet dollars from anticipating Bobcats owners Michael Jordan's pockets.
Teams won't be personification a same series of local games, so get prepared for angry should tiebreakers come into play when last playoff seeding. And many tiny marketplace teams will be skip out on some guaranteed sellouts opposite some chosen clubs that competence harm in a standings though assistance with a bottom line.
"That's what happens when we have a lockout," Durant said.
When Magic manager Stan Van Gundy listened a joining was putting together a 66-game line-up instead of a common 82-game run, he figured a relapse was simple: Play any group in your multiplication 4 times, afterwards face any other group home and away.
That seemed easy enough.
Instead, it's complicated.
"I'm not being vicious of it," Van Gundy said. "They've got a brief duration of time to play 66 games and there were a lot of factors they had to cruise and I'm certain that they did it a best approach that they could."
True, though there is some zaniness.
Atlanta takes a outing that has a Hawks going north, afterwards south, afterwards north, afterwards west, afterwards east, afterwards west and afterwards home again, all in a camber of 9 days. Cleveland has a nine-game Feb homestand. San Antonio goes scarcely 4 weeks though a home game, as it does any year since a rodeo takes over a arena. The Kings tighten a initial half of their news with 20 of 28 pided from Sacramento, daunting for a group unfortunate to keep fans intent while perplexing to get a new arena. Denver plays 9 in a quarrel during home in one stretch, afterwards immediately hits a highway for 7 straight.
But there's no Anthony homecoming in Denver.
"Did it worry me? Not really," pronounced Anthony, now with a Knicks. "I mean, we would adore to go behind and play there. The greeting we would get, who knows? we competence get some boos, we competence get some claps, though it'd have been fun."
Minnesota manager Rick Adelman was anxious to see his bar opens with 6 of 7 during home. And afterwards he looked who those early opponents are â€" a initial 4 clubs to revisit a Timberwolves are Oklahoma City, Miami, Dallas and San Antonio.
"It's a plea for us," Adelman said. "If we come out and we're prepared to go, and we can hit some of these people off, it's usually going to be improved for us."
The Wolves don't horde Atlanta, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Orlando, Toronto and Washington, teams that maybe don't enthuse a infrequent fan to run down on persion night to check them out, though could be winnable games. They also don't transport to Boston, Chicago, Miami or New York. From a rival standpoint, not carrying to play those teams on a highway is good for a Wolves. But from a actor knowledge standpoint, a Wolves don't sound thrilled.
"I consider we don't go to Miami and Chicago. ... That's a small sad," energetically approaching ensure Ricky Rubio said.
With this kind of schedule, girl competence be served. Washington is approaching to open a year with 10 players on a group age 25 or younger. So on those back-to-back-to-back nights, a Wizards competence have a hold some-more open in their common step than some other clubs.
"It reminds me of an AAU deteriorate â€" personification 5 games in one day," Wizards ensure John Wall said. "It can be tough during times, though we consider it can assistance us."
In past years, personification 4 games in 5 nights would be deliberate a misfortune of a news grind.
It's worse this year.
Not usually will any group have during slightest one widen of personification 3 games in 3 nights, though there will also be times when teams play 8 games in 11 days. If a pivotal actor rolls an ankle, positively a common emanate in a NBA, during a quite bustling time in a schedule, a group could find itself though a pivotal actor for maybe 20 percent of a season. And with all those games in such a brief span, this most is guaranteed: There will be nights when some teams will know a contingency are built very, really rarely opposite them, when they're a weary-legged bar opposite a group that's had a integrate of days off to freshen up.
"There will be nights when you'll be like, 'OK, well, let's usually go try and see what happens,'" Wade said. "It's not going to be easy. For anyone."
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AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney, AP Sports Writers Jon Krawczynski and Howard Fendrich, and AP freelance author Murray Evans contributed to this report.
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Follow Tim Reynolds on Twitter during http://www.twitter.com/ByTimReynolds
News referensi http://news.yahoo.com/quirks-galore-compressed-nba-schedule-190456446--spt.html
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