The Jazz will lose several games due to the schedulers

by clarkpojo on Oct 8, 2008 2:41 PM MDT Comment 5 comments

BasketballJohn has already documented some of the difficulties of the upcoming schedule for the Jazz in a fanpost. He mentioned the 6 out of 9 games in April being road games and such, but looking deeper into the schedule for this upcoming season there is a very disturbing trend. The Jazz's losing streak on the road last season of 7 games and 11 out of 12 is a key point in the Jazz not landing the top seed, but over the last few seasons the Jazz haven't been able to win the most difficult game to win in the NBA with much success at all. The most difficult game to win is the road game after a game the night before. For whatever reason, if the Jazz play a game anywhere and then have a road game the next night, chances are they are going to lose that road game. And it isn't a matter of fatigue due to consecutive games because they win a lot of games at home after playing the previous night. Here are some facts to back up my point:

During the 2006-2007 season the Jazz played 10 games that were road games after playing the previous night. They won 4 out of those 10 games. Not bad, actually.

During the 2007-2008 season the Jazz played 10 such games again, but they went a dismal 2-8 with the two wins over bottomfeeders Memphis and Milwaukee. Memphis without Gasol and a game that we barely won over the Bucks. Even more telling is that of those 8 games we lost, 5 were to Indiana, an Artest-less Sacramento team, the Knicks, New Jersey and the worst team in the league, the Heat. The Jazz also played 10 games that were home games after playing the previous night, but they went 9-1 in those games with the only loss being a tough one to Boston.

Well, you might say, all the Jazz need to do is get better at winning road games on back to back nights, but here is the kicker. The Jazz have 17 "second night" road games in this upcoming season. Almost double what they have had any of the previous 3 seasons. And to make matters worse, they only have 4 home games after playing the previous night. Four home games and 17 road games of 2nd night games. That could be devestating to the Jazz chances of getting the top spot.

But before you start crying conspiracy, it is important to note that the Lakers have it a little worse. They have 20 2nd night games on the schedule, but 17 of theirs are on the road.

It is the Hornets, Rockets and especially the Spurs who got the kinder side of the schedulers' brutality. The Hornets have 19 such games with 6 at home and 13 on the road. The Rockets have it a little worse with 5 home games and 14 on the road, but the Spurs have only 18 second night games with 7 of them at home and only 11 on the road.

I wonder what caused the schedulers to start cramming in so many games in less days, but it is definitely something to keep an eye on this season. The Jazz will have to learn to dig deep for the energy to win games they should on the road. Hopefully the depth of the team will help this season, but chances are, the Jazz will lose a handful of games due to their tough place in the schedule.

All comments are the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily that of SLC Dunk or SB Nation.

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Interesting

Thanks for the research on this. I have been barking about how the Jazz are horrible on the game the next night. But , I have never had any numbers to back it up.

Thanks for taking the time to do this, very informative.

Yeah I don’t think the Jazz will get the top spot in the west anymore. I think they will end up around that 4th-5th seed again, due mainly to the facts you mentioned.

That’s a hard thing to do, I think it plays more mentally on the Jazz then being worn out. Like you state the Jazz were 9-1 doing the 2nd game at home.

by P_Dizzle on Oct 9, 2008 9:03 AM MDT reply actions

Great insight

Fantastic observations by both you and Basketball John. Thanks for the analysis.

This does not bode well at all, but I think that the last two year’s playoff lessons might help this time around in Nov/December. I don’t think the players understood the ramifications of what they were playing for when they walked into an away game against a clearly inferior opponent in the dog-days of December/January. But after seeing how important home-court advantage is in the playoffs the last two years, I would guess that they’ll have that in the forefront of their minds when they motivate themselves for a tiring road game on a back-to-back.

You can’t sleepwalk ANY road game in the NBA, and unfortunately the Jazz have been prime (bad) examples of that.

by moneyman memo on Oct 9, 2008 9:26 AM MDT reply actions

Great digging on this.

It’s at least good to see that the other top teams in the conference will have a similar setup. And there’s something to the no Sunday games at home. Having even a couple home Sunday games would remove a couple of the back to back games.

SLCDunk.com, The Utah Jazz on SBNation

by Basketball John on Oct 9, 2008 11:23 AM MDT reply actions

The Sunday games thing is a great point.

But it seems like the league is packing in more back to back games for everyone. I don’t know why. I was scared when I was looking at the Jazz schedule and thinking conspiracy, because the scheduler’s couldn’t have screwed the Jazz more. But I was relieved to see that the Lakers have tough games too.

The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear.

by clarkpojo on Oct 9, 2008 4:19 PM MDT up reply actions