Link to the full Schedule We open at home against Cleveland. It'll be an intriguing game both because AP kicks off his time with a new team in a familiar venue and because Cleveland represents a potential measuring stick for this roster. We end the season off at home against the Knicks. New York also represents our only matchup that is scheduled to be nationally televised (January 15th). Can't really expect more after last season, I suppose. Raptors Republic has a good recap of the full schedule:
A quarter of the schedule being back-to-backs is tough. That's ten back-end games we'll have extra difficulty winning. 5/10 would be good for those. Also, good to see we aren't on a huge road trip during Christmas, as we were before. In Detroit, Christmas, vs. Detroit. 24th-26th off.
And 9 of them are road back-to-backs. Those will be tough. I'm glad we don't have any long road trips like last season, but those back-to-backs are a harsh price to pay for that luxury. I'm not sure which one's worse.
Here are all the back-to-backs: 1. @New Orleans => @Dallas (Nov. 6, 7) 2. Indiana => @Charlotte (Nov. 24, 25) 3. Washington => @Atlanta (Dec. 1, 2) 4. @Washington => @Chicago (Dec. 4, 5) 5. Minnesota => @Milwaukee (Dec. 8, 9) 6. @Miami => @Orlando (Dec. 15, 16) 7. @Boston => San Antonio (Jan. 2, 3) 8. Boston => @Indiana (Jan. 10, 11) 9. Miami => @New York (Jan. 27, 28) 10. @Indiana => New Jersey (Feb. 2, 3) 11. @ New Jersey => Washington (Feb. 19, 20) 12. @LA Lakers => @Sacramento (Mar. 9, 10) 13. @Golden State => @Portland (Mar. 13, 14) 14. Oklahoma City => @New Jersey (Mar. 19, 20) 15. @Miami => @Charlotte (Mar. 28, 29) 16. @Philadelphia => Golden State (Apr. 3, 4) 17. @Cleveland => Boston (Apr. 6, 7)
Couple thoughts on the above list: - #'s 3, 4, and 5 represent six games in nine days, with four on the road. That's a lot of travelling (luckily the teams aren't great). - #'s 1, 7, and 17 involve a fair bit of travelling and very tough opponents on both days - We have a Western road trip in March (#'s 12, 13) that is divided into two back-to-backs. That's a bit of a marathon for the team.
Probably our toughest month. It'll literally be a trial by fire, which is actually pretty exciting. We'll know very quickly whether it's all the rhetoric has any substance behind it or if it's all a farce. We also end the month against probable Eastern conference playoff teams (Cleveland, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, maybe New York). I like the way our schedule is structured, to be honest. It's not too difficult (we get more rest and easier opponents in the middle period). But we get tested when it really counts (in the beginning and at the end). There won't be any excuses or cop-outs this year (we can't complain about a difficult schedule and opponents can't point to an easy one).
the opening few games will be a great measure of triano's worth. will he integrate the additions quickly? or will the league run roughshod over a disorganized team of strangers?
