NBA Re-start Schedule

[MVP2110]

The pelicans have 6 of their 8 games against current 8th seeds or worse, and one of their two games against more elite teams is against Utah. Utah iirc won’t have bogdanovic. I know the pels had one of the easiest remaining schedules, and I’m looking to complain here, but I can’t help but roll my eyes a bit at that one. The average win percentage of the teams there is about 57%, and the average win percentage of the pels opponents there will be under 50%.

Am I making this a bigger deal than it really is?

I think their remaining schedule is fairly accurate to what they had left. They played the Clippers once, the Jazz once, & the 76ers once. Besides that the only playoff teams they played the rest of the way were Memphis twice & Orlando once. They had a super easy schedule coming down the stretch

[skbucks1985]

Pacers sixers games are more important but I'm watching every single game as if it's a playoff game

More important for what? Matchups? There’s no actual home court so I wonder if teams will treat the games like preseason.

Other than the Bucks and Lakers everyone has a lot to play for, with the Clippers being a little less than the others since they're just trying to stay in the 2/3 line and are up 3 on Utah for the 4 seed. But Toronto and Boston, in addition to the latter trying to avoid the 4/5 line, they really want that 2-seed because the 3/6 series is going to be a tough matchup regardless of which team they play while the 2/7 series is a defacto bye.

I think the preseason question becomes a little more relevant in the 2nd week if teams, other than the Bucks and Lakers, start to create some separation and begin to have less to play for

[ReasonablySober]

After four months without sports, I'm watching every game regardless of stakes.

[skbucks1985]

After four months without sports, I'm watching every game regardless of stakes.

I'm with you, I was thinking about it more from a team perspective than fans' perspective. Take the Bucks-Raptors game for example, which will be the sixth game for both teams. If the Raptors go into that game up 0.5 or 1.5 on Boston and the Bucks have long since clinched the 1 seed, winning that game has very different value to those teams. And if the Bucks are up 80-75 after 3, how many minutes are the Bucks starters going to play in the 4th quarter because I know the Raptors are going to full-out to win the game

[trwi7]

Is it really going to be that different? They'll be fighting for the 2 or 3 seed but it's not like home court advantage is going to matter.

[skbucks1985]

The difference is a 1st round series against Miami/Indiana/Philly or a 1st round series against Brooklyn/Orlando

[Badgerlander]

Pacers sixers games are more important but I'm watching every single game as if it's a playoff game

More important for what? Matchups? There’s no actual home court so I wonder if teams will treat the games like preseason.

Other than the Bucks and Lakers everyone has a lot to play for, with the Clippers being a little less than the others since they're just trying to stay in the 2/3 line and are up 3 on Utah for the 4 seed. But Toronto and Boston, in addition to the latter trying to avoid the 4/5 line, they really want that 2-seed because the 3/6 series is going to be a tough matchup regardless of which team they play while the 2/7 series is a defacto bye.

I think the preseason question becomes a little more relevant in the 2nd week if teams, other than the Bucks and Lakers, start to create some separation and begin to have less to play for

I’m just trying to be realistic looking at it from a team perspective. It’s been 4 months some guys might be completely out of shape and haven’t touched a basketball in 4 months and may not be able to shoot and hit the broad side of a barn. I don’t want to see Giannis playing 40 minutes the first game against Miami trying to win it and having to do all the heavy lifting because the team is a step slow on rotations etc and hurting his back again. I mean teams take 3 months worth of regular games to get going again on all cylinders after a summer off. I’d like to see the starters playing no more than like 20 minutes in these games and keep everyone healthy while they get back in basketball shape. I don’t want to see Dorsey Levens breaking his leg the first game back after a hold out.Sure a favorable matchup would be ideal but team health and cohesion is what matters in the restart

[Daver]

All i want if for them to take care of the #1 seed not that it matters this year but win 2 games then use rest to get into playoff mode if possible

[skbucks1985]

More important for what? Matchups? There’s no actual home court so I wonder if teams will treat the games like preseason.

Other than the Bucks and Lakers everyone has a lot to play for, with the Clippers being a little less than the others since they're just trying to stay in the 2/3 line and are up 3 on Utah for the 4 seed. But Toronto and Boston, in addition to the latter trying to avoid the 4/5 line, they really want that 2-seed because the 3/6 series is going to be a tough matchup regardless of which team they play while the 2/7 series is a defacto bye.

I think the preseason question becomes a little more relevant in the 2nd week if teams, other than the Bucks and Lakers, start to create some separation and begin to have less to play for

I’m just trying to be realistic looking at it from a team perspective. It’s been 4 months some guys might be completely out of shape and haven’t touched a basketball in 4 months and may not be able to shoot and hit the broad side of a barn. I don’t want to see Giannis playing 40 minutes the first game against Miami trying to win it and having to do all the heavy lifting because the team is a step slow on rotations etc and hurting his back again. I mean teams take 3 months worth of regular games to get going again on all cylinders after a summer off. I’d like to see the starters playing no more than like 20 minutes in these games and keep everyone healthy while they get back in basketball shape. I don’t want to see Dorsey Levens breaking his leg the first game back after a hold out.Sure a favorable matchup would be ideal but team health and cohesion is what matters in the restart

The Bucks have the luxury of taking the wait-and-see approach and weighing conditioning and chemistry and injury risk. How they weigh those factors against each other is something that we'll see. I am fairly certain they won't go balls-out to beat Miami in a game that will be meaningless to them just to try to make a statement.

But that luxury is something that no one, other than the Lakers, has. Maybe Boston, for instance, doesn't care where they end up and are going to approach this period like the Lakers and Bucks will. But if they do they're almost certainly looking at a much tougher playoff path.

[FlagsFlyForever]

More important for what? Matchups? There’s no actual home court so I wonder if teams will treat the games like preseason.

Other than the Bucks and Lakers everyone has a lot to play for, with the Clippers being a little less than the others since they're just trying to stay in the 2/3 line and are up 3 on Utah for the 4 seed. But Toronto and Boston, in addition to the latter trying to avoid the 4/5 line, they really want that 2-seed because the 3/6 series is going to be a tough matchup regardless of which team they play while the 2/7 series is a defacto bye.

I think the preseason question becomes a little more relevant in the 2nd week if teams, other than the Bucks and Lakers, start to create some separation and begin to have less to play for

I’m just trying to be realistic looking at it from a team perspective. It’s been 4 months some guys might be completely out of shape and haven’t touched a basketball in 4 months and may not be able to shoot and hit the broad side of a barn. I don’t want to see Giannis playing 40 minutes the first game against Miami trying to win it and having to do all the heavy lifting because the team is a step slow on rotations etc and hurting his back again. I mean teams take 3 months worth of regular games to get going again on all cylinders after a summer off. I’d like to see the starters playing no more than like 20 minutes in these games and keep everyone healthy while they get back in basketball shape. I don’t want to see Dorsey Levens breaking his leg the first game back after a hold out.Sure a favorable matchup would be ideal but team health and cohesion is what matters in the restart

I would expect and hope these guys have been staying in shape since March. We all knew a conclusion to the season this summer was likely. The Bucks should not take anything for granted, including that they can cakewalk into the Finals. If our guys are playing less than 20 minutes each regular season game, I don't think they'll be ready to play the 40+ that's necessary for the playoffs.

[MickeyDavis]

Yup, getting playoff ready means taking all games seriously regardless of whether we have #1 in the East wrapped up. You can't treat these games as preseason games and then shift into playoff mode.

[MVP2110]

I think there is a balance. We don't need to ramp up right away for game 1. We can build up a little slower to get ready and hopefully avoid some strains along the way

[Badgerlander]

Other than the Bucks and Lakers everyone has a lot to play for, with the Clippers being a little less than the others since they're just trying to stay in the 2/3 line and are up 3 on Utah for the 4 seed. But Toronto and Boston, in addition to the latter trying to avoid the 4/5 line, they really want that 2-seed because the 3/6 series is going to be a tough matchup regardless of which team they play while the 2/7 series is a defacto bye.

I think the preseason question becomes a little more relevant in the 2nd week if teams, other than the Bucks and Lakers, start to create some separation and begin to have less to play for

I’m just trying to be realistic looking at it from a team perspective. It’s been 4 months some guys might be completely out of shape and haven’t touched a basketball in 4 months and may not be able to shoot and hit the broad side of a barn. I don’t want to see Giannis playing 40 minutes the first game against Miami trying to win it and having to do all the heavy lifting because the team is a step slow on rotations etc and hurting his back again. I mean teams take 3 months worth of regular games to get going again on all cylinders after a summer off. I’d like to see the starters playing no more than like 20 minutes in these games and keep everyone healthy while they get back in basketball shape. I don’t want to see Dorsey Levens breaking his leg the first game back after a hold out.Sure a favorable matchup would be ideal but team health and cohesion is what matters in the restart

I would expect and hope these guys have been staying in shape since March. We all knew a conclusion to the season this summer was likely. The Bucks should not take anything for granted, including that they can cakewalk into the Finals. If our guys are playing less than 20 minutes each regular season game, I don't think they'll be ready to play the 40+ that's necessary for the playoffs.

I would hope that they did too and I guess I’d expect the guys on mega deals to buy some weights for their home gym but how many built a gym to shoot in? Pat C said that once the initial quarantine was over the Bucks chefs made meals that could be picked up curbside in Milwaukee but I bet a lot of guys went home to mammas cooking. CJ McCollum admitted on a podcast that he hadn’t shot a basketball since facilities closed. It wouldn’t surprise me if some guys went all Shawn Kemp in their apartment with all the gyms closed.