76ers, Celtics to play in NBA London Game on Jan. 11

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/20294509/philadelphia-76ers-boston-celtics-play-nba-london-game-jan-11



76ers, Celtics to play in NBA London Game on Jan. 11



8:18 AM ET




Ohm Youngmisuk
ESPN Staff Writer



Philadelphia 76ers guard Markelle Fultz will have the opportunity to show the Boston Celtics what they passed up when the two teams play a regular-season game at the O2 Arena in London on Jan. 11.

The NBA London Game, hosted by AEG, features the two Atlantic Division rivals that struck a trade for the top overall pick this year. Boston sent the No. 1 pick to Philadelphia, which drafted Fultz, in exchange for the third overall pick in June's draft and either a first-rounder in 2018 or 2019.

Boston selected Jayson Tatum with the third pick.

The Celtics, who added free agent Gordon Hayward to a lineup featuring Isaiah Thomas and Al Horford, hope to improve on last season's campaign, when they reached the Eastern Conference Finals after posting the East's best regular-season record (53-29).

The Sixers are aiming to make the playoffs for the first time since 2012 with a roster full of young talent and potential in Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Dario Saric and Fultz.

"I look forward to coming back to London with the Sixers after visiting for the first time this summer," Embiid said in a statement. "We are a young, hungry team, and we will be sure to give the fans an exciting game against Boston in January."

This will be the NBA's eighth regular-season game in London, and it is the second appearance for Boston and Philadelphia after playing preseason games in London and Manchester, respectively.

"This will be our 16th game [overall] in London where our events have become an annual opportunity for basketball fans across Europe to come together and share their passion for the NBA," commissioner Adam Silver said.



bob
MY NOTE:  This is terrible.  A 5-hour time zone change, each way, for one game?  That's worse than a 3-5 game West Coast trip. I'm not worried about the Philly game, win or lose, I'm worried about the jet lag affecting the next few games when they get back to the US.


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It would be interesting to see the regular season schedule so that we can see the time span both prior and after this game.

gyso wrote:It would be interesting to see the regular season schedule so that we can see the time span both prior and after this game.

gyso,

Same number of games, 82.

Season starts the same time as everybody else and ends the same time as everybody else.

If you give these teams more days off before and/or after this game that means you just have to cram the remaining 81 games into fewer days which means more fatigue. Fatigue if they aren't given the extra days off and have to play games soon before or after leaving for London, and fatigue if they are given extra days off because there will have to be fewer days off during the rest of the season schedule in order to start and finish on time.

And is this game a Celtic home game or a Philly home game?  Who gives up a game before their fans (and do season ticket holders of that team get a discount)?

Inquiring minds want to know...


bob


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Bob,

If I remember right, it is a Philly home game.

Your question pertained to jet lag for the few games after. I wondered as to the time span both prior and after, seeing that time helps with the symptoms.

Nice rant about how it affects the rest of our season, though.

gyso

gyso wrote:Bob,

If I remember right, it is a Philly home game.

Your question pertained to jet lag for the few games after.  I wondered as to the time span both prior and after, seeing that time helps with the symptoms.

Nice rant about how it affects the rest of our season, though.

gyso

gyso,

Rants R Us


bob


.

bobheckler wrote:

gyso wrote:Bob,

If I remember right, it is a Philly home game.

Your question pertained to jet lag for the few games after.  I wondered as to the time span both prior and after, seeing that time helps with the symptoms.

Nice rant about how it affects the rest of our season, though.

gyso

gyso,

Rants R Us


bob


.

With the London game and all, wouldn't that make you,

Sir Rants-a-lot?

new NBA schedule changes may address this issue.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/20286965/nba-issues-memo-detailing-how-add-rest-schedule

Some of the new improvements include:

• Eliminating stretches of four games in five days and 18 games in 30 days.

• Reduction of five games in seven nights to just 40 instances across (1.3 per team), down from last year when it was on the schedule 90 times (three per team).

• Reduction in number of back-to-backs to 14.9 per team, down from 16.3 per team. In all, 40 back-to-backs have been eliminated from last season.

• Reduction of single-game road trips by 17 percent.

• Reduction in single-game road trips over 2,000 miles by 67 percent; there are only 11 of them on schedule.

• Increase in weekend games from 549 to 568, much of the boost coming on Saturdays. Previously the NBA avoided Saturdays and Sunday afternoons during football season to dodge conflicts.

Teams that have seen versions of their schedules can petition the league for changes

This is just another "business" decision by the NBA to further spread their brand world wide.

Every team makes plenty of money of such situations, and it could be the Cs turn to "volunteer" to play abroad.

Whichever team wins this game will have no jet lag problems (winning takes the sting out of being tired), so this is certainly a game to win for even one more important reason besides stuff like eastern conference records, etc.

gyso wrote:

bobheckler wrote:

gyso wrote:Bob,

If I remember right, it is a Philly home game.

Your question pertained to jet lag for the few games after.  I wondered as to the time span both prior and after, seeing that time helps with the symptoms.

Nice rant about how it affects the rest of our season, though.

gyso

gyso,

Rants R Us


bob


.

With the London game and all, wouldn't that make you,

Sir Rants-a-lot?

gyso,

Don't need the London game for that.


Sir Rants-a-lot


.

Unless you are flying to Asia or Australia, Jetlag is a wholly overrated excuse.

It takes longer to from from Boston to LA than it does to London, and doing so on a private jet with beds - makes it much ado about nothing.

mrkleen09 wrote:Unless you are flying to Asia or Australia, Jetlag is a wholly overrated excuse.

It takes longer to from from Boston to LA than it does to London, and doing so on a private jet with beds - makes it much ado about nothing.

MrKleen,

Flight time is not what causes jet lag, it's the time zone difference. 5 hour difference between Boston and London vs 3 hour difference between Boston and SanFran.

Btw, how's the wife and kid? Still have the same marketing job?


bob


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I fly to Europe once a month, and unless you go straight from the airport to a meeting - it isnt an issue.

Things are good Bob. Working for PUMA, Owen is 3 and Erin is doing well. Saving for a new house and all is good. Hope the same for you.

We're playing in London, we're opening the new season on national TV against the Cavs and we're playing on Christmas against the Wizards.

We're relevant, we're prime time, we're back in style!!

gyso