Tag: NBA Schedule

The Celtics’ easy schedule for the 2024-25 season could propel Boston on a 2016 Warriors-like run

The Celtics might have an all-time run in them next season

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Mike Sykes

Happy Friday, folks! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you’ve had an excellent week and have an even better week ahead of you.

Let’s talk about the Celtics. They have an opportunity to do something pretty special next year.

The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors were one of the most dominant teams in recent history. They finished the regular season at 73-9. Remember, that team also started the season on a 24-game winning streak, which is still the longest in NBA history.

With the way the schedule looks, Boston might have a similar run next season.

Now, let me be clear. I’m pretty apathetic about the whole schedule release thing. Every team is going to play every team, so there’s not really that much to get excited about.

Of course, some excellent games on the schedule will pique your interest. And the schedule release videos are also pretty fun, too. But the schedule itself? Not that interesting.

But when you look at the way the Celtics start to the season, the possibility of Boston having a historic run seems pretty easy.  Some notes:

  • According to Positive Residual’s stats database, the Celtics have the fourth easiest schedule in the NBA next season.
  • Boston will play only 10 games against playoff teams in its first 25 games, three of which will be against the Bucks.
  • Boston also has only 13 back-to-back games, which is tied with the Bulls, Mavericks, Lakers, Trail Blazers, and Magic for the fewest in the NBA.

Boston will have to play on the road a lot early next season, but 13 of its first 25 games will be at home to start the year. The C’s will get a lot of home cooking as we head toward December.

Now, look. I’m not guaranteeing this team will win 70 games or more next season. That’s a hard thing to do — it’s why it’s only happened twice in the league’s history. It takes a lot of luck to make it happen.

But considering how historically dominant Boston was last season and how easy the schedule is this season, if there will be another team to do it anytime soon, it’ll be the 2024-25 Boston Celtics.

Noah Lyles is the gift that keeps on giving

Mandatory Credit: Aleksandra Szmigiel/Reuters via USA TODAY Sports

Now, the NBA and the NFL have beef with Noah Lyles.

The Olympic champion sprinter has struck up a beef with the Miami Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill after saying that Super Bowl winners aren’t world champions.

Sound familiar?

He also acted like he forgot who Tyreek Hill was during an interview, which is hilarious.

This man has found a way to unite fanbases from the NBA and NFL. He’s a legend for that alone.

Keep trolling, Noah. It’s bringing us together more than ever before.

Wemby is no longer the best NBA 2k rookie ever

Last season, Victor Wembanyama made video game history in NBA 2k (if that’s a thing?) as the best-rated rookie the game has ever seen. He was rated at 84, which felt extremely high at the time. He certainly backed it up with his play, though.

That honor is no longer his anymore. It’s been overtaken by Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, who both are being rated as 90 overall rookies in the game on the WNBA side.

 

I won’t lie — this rating feels kind of outrageous. Don’t get me wrong: Both Reese and Clark are awesome. They’re both legitimately All-Stars in the WNBA and fantastic players.

But this puts them in a tier with, say, the best 20 or so players in the W. Despite their recent stellar play, I’m not quite sure we’re there just yet with either of them.

Regardless, they’re the best rookies in 2k history now. Move over, Vic. You’re no longer at the top of the tower.

Shootaround

— LeBron James had the time of his life in Germany while belting out some Adele. What a vibe. Bryan Kalbrosky has more.

— Kelsey Mitchell’s answer on Indianapolis hosting the WNBA All-Star game next season is top tier hilarious. Meg Hall has more.

— Royce White was never an NBA star. Don’t let anyone say otherwise.

— Here are the 8 best schedule release videos from NBA teams around the league.

That’s a wrap. Thanks so much for reading, folks! We appreciate you. Have a fantastic weekend.

Peace.

-Sykes ✌️

Why there are no NBA games scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 7 2023 explained

There’s a good reason for this.

If you tuned in to the NBA’s in-season tournament action on Friday, you were probably itching to get to Tuesday considering how good those games were.

But when you searched for the schedule, you were probably shocked to learn that there are actually no NBA games on the league’s schedule on Tuesday, Nov. 7 2023. I don’t just mean in-season tournament games, either. There’s not a single game being played on Tuesday.

That’s weird considering that the in-season tournament games are supposed to be broadcast every Tuesday and Friday until December when the tournament ends.

But there’s a simple explanation for this — and it’s a pretty good reason, too. The reason why is it’s election day in certain states across the country.

Why does that matter for the NBA? Let’s dive into it.

When Houston Rockets face each NBA team in 2023-24 regular season

From Boston to Los Angeles and every franchise in between, here’s when the #Rockets will face each NBA team during the 2023-24 season.

With games starting in October, the 2023-24 schedule has been released for the Houston Rockets ahead of a grueling 82-game grind. Broadcast information for each matchup is available here.

Led by Ime Udoka as the new head coach and offseason veteran additions such as Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Jeff Green, the rebuilding Rockets have hopes of taking a leap forward this season.

Even so, expectations should be kept in check. For a mostly young team that went 22-60 last season while finishing last in the Western Conference for three straight years, even making a push for the West’s 2023-24 play-in tournament would constitute major growth.

Thus, for many NBA fans in Houston, part of the incentive to take in games at Toyota Center and watch their local team on television involves watching title contenders from elsewhere across the league.

With that in mind, here’s an alphabetically sorted list of when each team faces the Rockets (home and away) this season. Two games from Dec. 4-9 will be added at a later date depending on results from the NBA’s new in-season tournament, which is played in November.

2023-24 Houston Rockets complete schedule, broadcast information

Here’s the full #Rockets schedule for the 2023-24 NBA regular season, including dates and locations, tipoff times, and broadcast information. It all begins on Wednesday, Oct. 25, in Orlando.

Complete with a release video featuring Jabari Smith Jr., the Houston Rockets’ schedule for the 2023-24 NBA season is now available.

The rebuilding Rockets have had the Western Conference’s worst record for three years running, but there’s new energy this season. Ime Udoka is in as head coach, replacing Stephen Silas. Houston’s young prospect core of Smith, Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson was supplemented this offseason with veteran free agent signings led by Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks.

Scroll on for a month-by-month look at all games, opponents and tip times for the Rockets during the upcoming 2023-24 campaign. Training camp will open in early October, followed by the start of preseason games in the second week of that month.

Based on the NBA’s new in-season tournament, the current 2023-24 schedule will have two additions at a later date. Teams who fail to advance to the knockout stage of that tournament will have two games added to their schedule on Dec. 6 and Dec. 8, while teams who lose in the quarterfinals will have one game added on Dec. 8.

A definitive ranking of the NBA’s reported Christmas Day games from best to “Do we really have to watch this?”

The NBA’s Christmas schedule has Devin Booker vs. Luka Doncic so you just KNOW it’s going to be fun

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every afternoon. This is Mike Sykes

NBA training camp is almost here, which means it’s almost time for us to get the league’s full schedule.

Ahead of the big schedule drop, though, we always get reports about the upcoming Christmas Day slate for the season. This, folks. This is the part of the schedule everyone is itching for. There are a couple of reasons behind that.

First, it’s when all you NFL folks are finally starting to check in with other sports. You heathens. It’s OK. We still love y’all.

Secondly, and most importantly, everyone wants to see what Christmas Day matchups we’re looking at to know exactly who is playing who. What time will LeBron and the Lakers be on? Are we getting an NBA Finals rematch? Will the league feature any young up-and-comers on the Christmas Day slate? It’s a rite of passage for the next generation.

With that in mind, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reportedly revealed this season’s upcoming slate. It’s a solid one:

  • Bucks @ Knicks
  • 76ers @ Heat
  • Celtics @ Lakers
  • Mavericks @ Suns
  • Warriors @ Nuggets

Once you get past the obligatory Knicks matchup at MSG in the afternoon, this slate gets pretty interesting. Some of these games are certainly much more intriguing than others, though.

Of course, I ranked them. Let’s start with:

  1. Mavericks @ Suns: Obviously, these two teams are completely different than they were a couple of seasons ago when the Mavs absolutely destroyed the Suns in the playoffs. But I can’t help but feel like that rivalry is still there considering Devin Booker and Luka Doncic probably still want to rip each other’s faces off. Should be fun. Especially now that we’ve added Kevin Durant in there. Sign me up.
  2. Nuggets @ Warriors: Lakers fans, y’all are going to hate me for saying this. But this is the Western Conference Finals I wanted. The Warriors have always given the Nuggets a ton of problems with how they stretch Nikola Jokic on defense. We get a taste of that here. Oh, and Chris Paul is there now, too!
  3. Celtics @ Lakers: Both of these teams should be pretty good if healthy. I just want to see LeBron James try and get revenge on the Celtics for causing his complete meltdown last year. This was the best moment of the season, man. Give me more of that. Please.
  4. 76ers @ Heat: I’ll be real with y’all here. This one isn’t that interesting to me right now. BUT. There’s a but. It could be more interesting if Damian Lillard is finally on the Miami Heat by Christmas. Cue the Mariah Carey “All I want for Christmas is you” tune for the Heat fans out there.
  5. Bucks @ Knicks: I mean, I guess. Again, this is the obligatory MSG matchup of Christmas day. These teams are both good. But there’s not really anything interesting between them. Just give us a good game, y’all.

Sorry, Knicks fans. I promise I don’t hate your team! I just wish they were more interesting. Regardless, though, I think this will be a pretty fun Christmas Day slate. I’m surprised there’s no Victor Wembanyama on schedule.

I can’t wait to watch these games, though.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

There’s been lots of talk about which teams have the best chance to knock Team USA out of this year’s FIBA World Cup action and Greece was thought to be one of them.

With Giannis Antetokounmpo removing himself from the action, though, that probably isn’t the case anymore.

He says he’s just not physically ready after having surgery on his left knee earlier this summer, according to reporting from the AP’s Tim Reynolds.

“Everyone knows my passion and love for my national team has and never will change,” Antetokounmpo said in a statment. “Since the conclusion of my NBA season I have been pushing my body to the limits to be the player I need to be to help our team achieve the goals we set. But after months of work and multiple meetings with medical staff it is clear that I am not ready to compete in the level that I need to be to participate in the World Cup.”

We never usually see injuries sidelining Giannis. He acts like he’s Iron Man out there on the court, which is why he came back early from a back injury this postseason.

But the sobering reality is this: Antetokounmpo will be 29 years old next season. He plays a physical brand of basketball. We might need to see a lot more of this selective version of Giannis moving forward.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It may ultimately prolong his career, which is good. It’s just something to watch for as we continue to follow his career.

Shootaround

(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

— Jayson Tatum seemed more nervous about golfing with John Rahm than he was about playing in the NBA Finals. Blake Schuster has more.

— Paul George says he’s going to be a bully next season. But can he just…play? Let’s start there. Prince Grimes has more from Wednesday.

— I ranked the best rap songs from athletes for hip-hop’s 50th anniversary. Lots of basketball players on this list.

— Here’s everything you need to know about the Basketball Hall of Fame’s class of 2023.

That’s all, folks! Enjoy your weekend. Be kind to one another.

March 2023 Houston Rockets schedule highlights

The #Rockets will play 10 of their 17 March games at home, including matchups versus the Spurs, Nets, and Pistons that could be important in the 2023 NBA draft race.

In February, between the NBA’s 2022-23 All-Star break and a five-game road trip spanning both sides of it, the Houston Rockets went nearly three full weeks without a home game.

That’s not going to be the case in March.

Fans in Houston may not be entirely thrilled with their team’s results, since the Rockets (13-47) enter the month with the NBA’s worst record and yet again in a battle for draft positioning, as opposed to a potential playoff race. But they will at least be able to see it play out within the friendly home confines of Toyota Center.

Ten of Houston’s 17 games this month are at home, including matchups versus the San Antonio Spurs (March 5), Brooklyn Nets (March 7), and Detroit Pistons (March 31) that could prove pivotal for draft positioning. The Rockets will also play road games versus Brooklyn and San Antonio in that same month.

The Rockets will have a six-game homestand from March 11-20, followed immediately by a five-game road trip from March 22-29.

Here’s a game-by-game look at the March schedule, which includes several back-to-backs. That could mean planned maintenance on either side for any veterans or young players coming off injuries.

All games will be televised regionally via AT&T SportsNet Southwest and available out of market via NBA League Pass.

Rio Grande Valley Vipers release 2022-23 NBA G League schedule

Houston’s NBA G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers (@RGVVipers), has released its complete schedule for the 2022-23 season. Here’s a look at the highlights.

The 2021-22 NBA G League champions, the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Vipers, the G League affiliate of the Houston Rockets, announced their 2022-23 season schedule as the team looks to defend its title.

This year’s schedule features 50 games in total, including 24 home games at Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg, Texas; 24 road games; and two games at the NBA G League Showcase. Television details are not yet available, though most games from last season were available on either an ESPN network or the ESPN+ streaming service.

For the second consecutive season, the G League schedule will be split into two parts: the 18-game Showcase Cup followed by a 32-game regular season. The Showcase Cup begins on Friday, Nov. 4 and culminates with a single-elimination tournament to crown a champion at the 2022 AT&T NBA G League Winter Showcase from Dec. 19-22. Following the Showcase Cup, team records will reset in advance of the 32-game regular season, which tips off on Dec. 27.

The Vipers (roster) will open the 2022-23 season on the road on Nov. 6 versus the Mexico City Capitanes, who will be joining the G League throughout the full season. Then, the Vipers will host the Birmingham Squadron for the home opener on Friday, Nov. 11.

This season’s home opener will consist of a ring ceremony to embrace the 2021-22 NBA G League champions. The Vipers will be presented with their championship ring on that night, which will also feature the unveiling of the club’s fourth championship banner and a neon-themed jersey to commemorate the team’s neon campaign.

Further details, schedule highlights, and theme nights are available in a press release from the Vipers. Scroll on for a month-by-month breakdown of RGV’s 2022-23 slate for the regular season, which they hope will be followed by another strong postseason run.

Rockets release blooper reel for 2022-23 schedule release video

The Rockets didn’t have much acting experience prior to their epic schedule release video for the 2022-23 season, so there were understandably a few bloopers.

The Houston Rockets drew rave reviews in recent weeks regarding their epic schedule release video for the 2022-23 NBA season. Not surprisingly, it took quite a bit of work to pull off.

Beyond the production value, it’s not as if the film’s marquee actors had much (if any) acting experience. The video starred head coach Stephen Silas and five players: Eric Gordon, Josh Christopher, Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason and TyTy Washington.

With that in mind, there were understandably a few outtakes and bloopers from the acting process, and the Rockets were kind enough to package a small handful of them this week for viewing on Twitter.

At 21 years old, Eason is the oldest member of Houston’s three first-round rookies from the 2022 NBA draft. Yet, as viewers of the blooper reel can tell, he’s still very young at heart, as well.

Scroll on for the complete blooper video from the Rockets.

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Podcast: Rockets marketing execs on 2022-23 schedule, reveal video

In today’s podcast, Rockets marketing execs Julian Duncan (@jdhtown) and Paul Suarez (@psuarii) share insight on Houston’s new schedule release and the epic video accompanying it.

In Friday’s episode of “The Lager Line” podcast, Rockets marketing executives Julian Duncan and Paul Suarez share their insight on the release of Houston’s 2022-23 season schedule, as well as the epic video that accompanied its reveal on social media.

Duncan is the team’s chief marketing and strategy officer, while Suarez is vice president of digital marketing with the Rockets.

Topics discussed on the podcast with our Ben DuBose include:

  • Highlights from Houston’s new schedule and games of interest in the upcoming season;
  • What the logistics process is like of working with the NBA to put the 82-game schedule together;
  • Behind-the-scenes information on how the release video featuring players, coaches, and executives came to be;
  • What to watch for over the remainder of the 2022 offseason, including jersey announcements, fan engagement strategies, and new digital content on the horizon at Rockets.com and via the team’s official social media outlets.

Friday’s full episode can be listened to below. Each episode of the show is also made available via flagship radio station SportsTalk 790, as well as to all major podcast distributors under “The Lager Line.”

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OKC Thunder projected to have hardest schedule for 2022-23 NBA season

This is certainly music to the ears for those who are rooting to tank.

If the Oklahoma City Thunder are to obtain the first pick in the 2023 NBA draft to acquire Victor Wembanyama, the strength of schedule will play a huge role.

According to league analyst Ed Kupfer’s model, the Thunder have the hardest schedule in the NBA for the 2022-23 season. The model takes into account opponent strength for every team besides the Brooklyn Nets, days rest for the team and opponent and if it’s a home or away game.

The model concludes that the Thunder — by a significant margin — have the strongest schedule in the league.

Fellow draft lottery competitors San Antonio, Houston and Indiana make up the top-four for the hardest schedules in the league.

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