23-24 Schedule

Every Detail of the 2023-24 Celtics Schedule


Marc D'Amico
Marc D'Amico●@Marc_DAmico
Team Reporter and Analyst

August 17, 20233:14 PM EDT


Celtics Nation can’t wait to get another pursuit of Banner 18 underway. Finally, we now know what that pursuit is going to look like – at least in terms of a game schedule.

Boston’s schedule, along with those of the other 29 teams in the league, was released Thursday by the NBA and there is plenty to unpack. So, as we do each and every year, we’ve pulled all of the key information and relayed them to you as succinctly as possible below. Take a dive into the details!


Holidays

Those who are looking forward to watching the Celtics on and around their holidays this upcoming season are in luck. Those who are looking forward to watching them at TD Garden? Not so much.

Boston will play the day before Thanksgiving (Bucks), the day after Thanksgiving (Orlando), on Christmas Day (Lakers), on New Year’s Eve (Spurs), and on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Raptors). Unfortunately, the only home game of that bunch is the Thanksgiving Eve matchup with Milwaukee. That Christmas Day matchup with the rival Lakers should make up for it, though!


In-Season Tournament

The Celtics now know their schedule for the first-ever In-Season tournament. Their Group Play schedule is listed below:

TIME DATE LOCATION OPPONENT
7:30 PM Friday, Nov. 10 Home Brooklyn Nets
7:30 PM Friday, Nov. 17 Away Toronto Raptors
2:30 PM Friday, Nov. 24 Away Orlando Magic
7:30 PM Tuesday, Nov. 28 Home Chicago Bulls

The winner of this group gets an automatic bid into the Knockout Rounds, which begin Dec. 4. Should the C’s not win their group, they’d also have a chance to advance to the Knockout Rounds by earning one of the two available wild card spots.


National TV

The Celts may wind up on the national stage even more often this season than last season, and that’s saying something.

Twenty-four of their 80 scheduled games (30 percent) will be played in front of a national audience, which matches their total a season ago. Ten will be broadcast on ESPN, nine will be on TNT, and five will be on ABC.

Should the Celtics advance into the Knockout Rounds of the In-Season Tournament, their number of national TV games will climb to at least 25.


A few national TV highlights are below:

The Celtics open the season Nov. 25 in New York against the Knicks on ESPN, then play again on ESPN two nights later when they host the Heat.

Boston visits the Warriors Dec. 19 in a game carried by ESPN.
The C’s take on the Lakers on Christmas Day on ABC.
Boston hosts the defending-champion Nuggets on ESPN on Jan. 19.
Both Celtics-Suns matchups will be on national TV, first March 9 on ABC from Phoenix, and then March 14 on TNT from Boston.


Back-to-Backs

The Celtics will play 14 back-to-backs this season, up from 13 last season. The good news, however, is that they won’t need to travel for five of them.

Surprisingly, Boston will host five back-to-backs at TD Garden. That’s more such occurrences than their last three seasons combined (four).

The most intriguing back-to-back of the season might be when the Celtics take on the Warriors and Kings, who dueled in last season’s Western Conference Playoffs, on consecutive nights in December. The C’s will play the Warriors Dec. 19 in San Francisco, and the Kings Dec. 20 in Sacramento.


Homestands and Road Trips

Boston’s longest homestand lasts nearly half a month. It spans seven games, arriving Jan. 27 and ending Feb. 9. The Celtics will host the Clippers, Pelicans, Pacers, Lakers, Grizzlies, Hawks and Wizards, in that order, during that stretch.

The longest road trip of the season will span six games and 11 days. It begins March 22 and ends April 1. Interestingly, the Celtics won’t venture very far west during the trip, as New Orleans is the Western-most city among the six destinations.


Other Tidbits

Here are a few other noteworthy items from the schedule:

The Celtics will travel an estimated 42,000 miles throughout their 80-game, pre-determined schedule. The Eastern Conference average is 38,000 miles.
Boston will play more games fresh this season (16) than tired (11), compared to its opponents. “Fresh” means that it did not play the day before, while its opponent did. “Tired” means that it played the day before, while its opponent did not. The other 53 games are considered “even.”

Marcus Smart is scheduled to make his return to Boston, where he'll surely receive a standing ovation, Feb. 4.
Half of Boston’s 20 scheduled home games will be played on the weekend, with 11 coming on Fridays, three on Saturdays, and six on Sundays.                                                                


Bob


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Here is the complete schedule.

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/bos


Season Opener is on the road vs the Knicks on October 25th.  Exactly 68 days from today.  The first preseason game is October 8th, 51 days from today.  Veteran players can report to camp no earlier than October 2nd, 45 days from now.

I don't understand why the NBA sets an "earliest allowable day" for veterans to report to camp.  I realize they can show up at the Auerbach Center and work out and play pick up games all summer and all that, but why does the league care about them not reporting for camp before then?  Is it the Players' Union saying "no"?  The date is "earliest allowable", not "earliest mandatory".  Why should a team in rebuilding mode, with a lot of new players who need to learn a new system and be integrated into it, be put at a disadvantage vs teams that have their core returning? I don't understand.


Bob


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Bob


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https://9inenews.com/celtics-one-best-schedules-2023-24-season-2/



Why Celtics have one of the best schedules in the 2023-24 season


by Seth
August 18, 2023 in NBA


The Celtics got a lucky break with the way their schedule for the 2023-24 season is set up, as they’ll have plenty of games after a day off.

Creating a perfectly balanced NBA schedule is pretty much impossible, so some teams are going to get more rest than others. And in the upcoming 2023-24 season, it seems the Boston Celtics got a lucky break.Over the course of 82 contests, the Celtics have 16 games in which they’ll play after an off day while their opponents will have played the day before, per Positive Residual. The C’s have more of these games than any other team in the league, meaning they’ll be better rested than who they face more often than not.Ironically though, Boston seemed to play better with no rest at all last season. During the 2022-23 campaign, the C’s went 10-3 in the second games of back-to-backs. Conversely, in games after they had exactly two days of rest, they posted a mediocre 6-6 record.


In the new season, the Celtics will have 11 games in which they’ll be at a rest disadvantage. Plus, before they take on the rival Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day, they’ll play three road games (against three 2022 playoff teams) on the West Coast in five days.

But before we think too far ahead, the Celtics will open their season up at Madison Square Garden versus the New York Knicks on Wednesday, October 25. Two days later, they’ll try and exact revenge on the Miami Heat in Beantown, as the scrappy squad from South Beach knocked them out of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals.

Unfortunately for Celtics fans, these showdowns are all two months away. In the meantime, Boston will gear up for training camp and its first preseason game on Sunday, October 8 against the Philadelphia 76ers.


Bob
MY NOTE: I haven't gone through the schedule in detail yet but if what he's saying about having a lot of days off between games that will make Al Horford very happy indeed.


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