5 replies to this topic

[thejohnnygold]

It's here.  Our destiny has been laid out for all to see.  Now is the time for all Rockets fans to peer into that crystal ball, predict how our fate unfolds, and curse/praise the Gods whose meddlesome nature knows no bounds.

 

LINK to the schedule.

 

Someone else did the counting, but I'll pass the info along.  There are 5 teams with 20 sets of back-to-backs this season: Houston, LA Clippers, Golden State, Milwaukee, and Detroit.

 

The good news is 2 of our main conference rivals suffer the same fate as we do.  The bad news is 3 of our other conference rivals do not (MEM, SAS, OKC).  I do not consider Portland or Dallas a threat.  Phoenix is still up in the air.

 

Looking at our early schedule I can easily see us getting off to a slow start.  We will be missing Lawson at the beginning of the season (15 games?) and we even lose Dwight for the opener against Denver.  We could easily be 2-5 (or worse) before getting into a little softer bit of the schedule.

 

Of course, we are very, very good and could be 7-0.  Who knows???  

 

I think we will need to be patient and know that we close the season on a seemingly easy set of games with good amount of non-playoff caliber teams over the last 12 or so games.  Odds are we make a little run at the end so stay strong Rockets fans--it's going to be a bumpy ride.

 

What does everyone think?

[cointurtlemoose]

I feel like last season had more easy and hard stretches. This schedule seems more even throughout. Though I guess a lot of that depends on which way some question mark teams go: Utah, Phoenix, Miami, Indiana, etc.

 

And 15 games?? I thought Lawson was only suspended for 4 games. Right?

[majik19]

I think our schedule is pretty fair. To catch the highlight's from Doolittle's analysis (link here, Insider required: http://espn.go.com/n...nt-years-past)�

 

Houston has 18 games with more rest than our opponent, 22 games with less rest.

Houston has 20 back to backs, 8 of those are home and home, and 0 4 games in 5 days. 

 

Per the "Schedule Points" metric that I don't quite understand, we have the 7th worst schedule, with only 5 points more than the worst team and 10 points less than the best team. Not much spread there (Doolittle calls the total spread worth about 1/2 win over the course of the season, comparing the worst team to the best).

 

 

Our toughest games (schedule-wise):

November 2, OKC at home on the back half of a back-to-back. 

November 7, at LAC on the back half of a back-to-back.

December 9, at Washington on the back half of a back-to-back.

December 26, at New Orleans on the back half of a back-to-back. (This is probably the worst game in the schedule, because we also have a game on Christmas Day against the Spurs!)

January 18, at LAC on the back half of a back-to-back

 

So both games at the Clippers are on the back half of a back-to-back. Those could be critical in playoff seeding. 

 

19 national TV games seems reasonable to me as well!

Edited by majik19, 13 August 2015 - 04:03 PM.

[txtdo1411]

I feel like last season had more easy and hard stretches. This schedule seems more even throughout. Though I guess a lot of that depends on which way some question mark teams go: Utah, Phoenix, Miami, Indiana, etc.

 

And 15 games?? I thought Lawson was only suspended for 4 games. Right?

 

I believe JG was just speculating. To the best of my knowledge the league has not suspended Lawson yet, but there definitely will be a suspension. I have seen numbers ranging from 5 to 25 games, but nobody really knows how the league is going to handle it. There isn't really any precedent for his situation. DWIs typically get a 2-3 game suspension, but it is very feasible the league hits him fairly hard for having 2 back to back like that. I personally think it will be closer to 8 games, but I would not be utterly shocked if it ended up being 15 games. 

[thejohnnygold]

Yeah, I have no idea.  Hopefully, they cut us some slack and give him 5 games so he can be back in time for nationally televised game against Sacramento.

[cointurtlemoose]

Ah, I see. For some reason I thought it had already been announced.