Road Trip Heaven or Hell

whoever is responsible for scheduling should be terminated!

I have been digging a little deeper into the scheduling of NBA Games.

We know that every team is scheduled to play 82 games (41 at home and 41 on the road)

I  just discovered something that seems very unbalanced when it comes to scheduling.

I have reviewed the road games for every team in the Eastern conference.

The Raptors and the Pacers are the only team that have extended 7 game road trips.  Also the Raptors have (2) 5 game trips and the Pacers also have (1) 5 game trip.

The Celtics are the only team that has (2) extended 6 game road trips.

The Pistons and the Wizards  each have    (1) 6 and (1) 5

The Sixers, Cavs and Hawks have (2 ) 5 game road trips.

The Hornets and the Bulls have (1) 6 game trip.

The Bucks, Nets, Heat, Knicks,  and Magic have (1) 5 game road trip.

The Raptors have the hardest extended road schedule having to play (1) 7 game trip and (2) 5 games trips.

The Bucks, Nets, Heat, Knicks,  and Magic have (1) 5 game road trip has the easiest road schedule.

If I had to rank the teams from hard to easy:

Raptors
Pacers
Celtics
Pistons and Wizards
Sixers, Cavs and Hawks
Bulls and Hornets
Bucks, Nets, Heat, Knicks, and Magic

Dboss,

I wonder if it has to do with distance. A 6 game road trip that looks like this:

Knicks
Nets
Philly
Washington
Charlotte
Atlanta

Isn't too bad. A bus ride to NY for 2 of the 6, another bus ride to Philly and then another to Washington. The Charlotte and Atlanta legs are flights, but that's 2 flights out of 6 games.

In the west what have they got? LAL/LAC and GSW/Sacto mirror NYK/Brooklyn. Other than them the west is so vast everything is a flight. Even the 3 Texas teams aren't within reasonable driving distance of each other. LA to Phoenix is 6 hours by car.


Bob


.

bobheckler wrote:Dboss,

I wonder if it has to do with distance.  A 6 game road trip that looks like this:

Knicks
Nets
Philly
Washington
Charlotte
Atlanta

Isn't too bad.  A bus ride to NY for 2 of the 6, another bus ride to Philly and then another to Washington.  The Charlotte and Atlanta legs are flights, but that's 2 flights out of 6 games.

In the west what have they got?  LAL/LAC and GSW/Sacto mirror NYK/Brooklyn.  Other than them the west is so vast everything is a flight.  Even the 3 Texas teams aren't within reasonable driving distance of each other.  LA to Phoenix is 6 hours by car.


Bob


.

I’m not sure what you consider a reasonable driving distance but-

Dallas to Houston- 3 1/2 hour drive (239 miles)

Dallas to SA- 5 hours 273 miles

Houston to SA -3 hours 197 miles

I guess it all comes down to how much one likes driving. Texas is pretty reasonable in my opinion.

Anything over 5hrs is a no no. Fill er up if Spirit is my only alternative.

Bobh

Whenever players talk about going on the road for an extended trip they recognize that it is a grind. The longer the trip, the more the grind and I am not talking about driving distances. Teams fly on Jets!

Something has to be wrong with the scheduling when teams have only one 5 game road trip for the entire season, while other teams are faced with multiple extended road trips.

dboss wrote:Bobh

Whenever players talk about going on the road for an extended trip they recognize that it is a grind.  The longer the trip, the more the grind and I am not talking about driving distances.  Teams fly on Jets!  

Something has to be wrong with the scheduling when teams have only one 5 game road trip for the entire season, while other teams are faced with multiple extended road trips.

Help me out here Boss,

When a team is being referred to as a bad road team I know what that means. The team has trouble winning on the road.
My question is, Why?

For instance, GS has a very poor road record. Why do you think that is? I know it depends on which team we are talking about that has trouble winning road games but what in your opinion could be the reason(s) why? Particularly in GS case?

Ktron wrote:

dboss wrote:Bobh

Whenever players talk about going on the road for an extended trip they recognize that it is a grind.  The longer the trip, the more the grind and I am not talking about driving distances.  Teams fly on Jets!  

Something has to be wrong with the scheduling when teams have only one 5 game road trip for the entire season, while other teams are faced with multiple extended road trips.

Help me out here Boss,

When a team is being referred to as a bad road team I know what that means. The team has trouble winning on the road.
My question is, Why?

For instance, GS has a very poor road record. Why do you think that is? I know it depends on which team we are talking about that has trouble winning road games but what in your opinion could be the reason(s) why? Particularly in GS case?

Earlier in the year their old guys were in and out of the line up, and their young guys were giving them nothing. Some of their young guys are showing more flashes, Klay has picked it up, Green is still a legit glue guy; can the vets get better consistency and the young guys come thru with winning basketball plays? We will see

cowens/oldschool wrote:

Ktron wrote:

dboss wrote:Bobh

Whenever players talk about going on the road for an extended trip they recognize that it is a grind.  The longer the trip, the more the grind and I am not talking about driving distances.  Teams fly on Jets!  

Something has to be wrong with the scheduling when teams have only one 5 game road trip for the entire season, while other teams are faced with multiple extended road trips.

Help me out here Boss,

When a team is being referred to as a bad road team I know what that means. The team has trouble winning on the road.
My question is, Why?

For instance, GS has a very poor road record. Why do you think that is? I know it depends on which team we are talking about that has trouble winning road games but what in your opinion could be the reason(s) why? Particularly in GS case?

Earlier in the year their old guys were in and out of the line up, and their young guys were giving them nothing. Some of their young guys are showing more flashes, Klay has picked it up, Green is still a legit glue guy; can the vets get better consistency and the young guys come thru with winning basketball plays? We will see

That does explain why they’re struggling over all but in particular, why mainly on the road? All but a few of their wins have been at home?

Good question, Ktron.  The only thing I can remember any team saying anything positive about being on the road is, visiting teams prefer shutting up the "home" team crowd by dominating and winning.  Nothing is more satisfying except winning a G7 at home (or on the road), perhaps.

That being said, when you are playing at home, things would appear to be much more casual and predictable.  You're not forced to be around your teammates all the time.  You can walk into the arena whenever you get there.  Your surroundings are familiar.  All of it.  Nothing new there.  

One the road, it's kind of like a family vacation of sorts, but more of a ticking timebomb.  In my life, pretty much every year there has been a family vacation of sorts.  My last 10 years, there has been one for at least 1 week, now 10 days where we all head to the beach.  There are 8 of us family regulars that make the trip.  We've discovered with a change about 5 years ago from one week to 10 days that 10 days is about the limit we can all stand to be cooped up together.  Nothing wrong with that.  There is just a breaking point.  But we are all around each other 24/7.  At home we come and go as we please and only bounce off each other like ping pong balls in the lottery box.  When you're on the road confined together, it's more like being in the Large Hadron Collider and you're taking aim for a head-on collision.    

If you don't have a guy or a group of guys who can be the referee and make sure things don't get out of hand, things will get out of hand with tension and then you're at each others' throats sooner rather than later.  It's going to happen.    

Now with these guys, they are a family.  They travel together, eat together, hang out together, everything while on the road.  Nothing like being at home.  At home, you have outlets or can get out.  On the road, you can tolerate the same group of people 24/7 for a good number of days, but if you don't have the referee, right out of the shoot things can (and will) go badly.  This translates to your day, your routine and in this case the way the team plays on the court.  All we see is League Pass and the game.  We see nothing really beforehand or after.  

All this to say, I would guess GS either doesn't have that referee or they don't have a very good one.  What makes a good referee on the road?  I don't know but a class clown helps smooth over things for a good while before everybody catches on.  They keep everything light, fun and funny because living confined together 24/7 is for lack of a better example, eventually sounds like prison.  Nobody wants that.  Also, a glue guy that can listen well individually to players, has their backs, knows what to anticipate, etc. would help as well.

Eventually, it all breaks down no matter who you have as the moderator or moderators.  Nobody tells us the fans about those people because for the most part, we buy our LP and that's all we need and that's all that's offered.  But we do all find those NBA documentaries fascinating, don't we?  Those docs are typically about what goes on behind the scenes and give us a greater understand of the life of a basketball player.  

I don't recall seeing a documentary yet focused entirely on "playing on the road" but it would be an excellent idea for a 30 for 30-like deal.

Teams that have these glue guys and can keep the players loose yet focused on the main task at hand and their eye on the dream at hand, shutting up the "home" crowd, may be the ones that have the better road record.  It may be a player or it may be staff person/coach.

All that to say, I have no clue.  I can only speculate.  It could be that it is all in GSW's heads, which would be the ultimate ironic thing since their coach is the master of heads games himself yet he can't see the forest for the trees!  Perfect!!  Add me to the Not Friend of the GSW list, Ktron!!  

db

dbrown4 wrote:Good question, Ktron.  The only thing I can remember any team saying anything positive about being on the road is, visiting teams prefer shutting up the "home" team crowd by dominating and winning.  Nothing is more satisfying except winning a G7 at home (or on the road), perhaps.

That being said, when you are playing at home, things would appear to be much more casual and predictable.  You're not forced to be around your teammates all the time.  You can walk into the arena whenever you get there.  Your surroundings are familiar.  All of it.  Nothing new there.  

One the road, it's kind of like a family vacation of sorts, but more of a ticking timebomb.  In my life, pretty much every year there has been a family vacation of sorts.  My last 10 years, there has been one for at least 1 week, now 10 days where we all head to the beach.  There are 8 of us family regulars that make the trip.  We've discovered with a change about 5 years ago from one week to 10 days that 10 days is about the limit we can all stand to be cooped up together.  Nothing wrong with that.  There is just a breaking point.  But we are all around each other 24/7.  At home we come and go as we please and only bounce off each other like ping pong balls in the lottery box.  When you're on the road confined together, it's more like being in the Large Hadron Collider and you're taking aim for a head-on collision.    

If you don't have a guy or a group of guys who can be the referee and make sure things don't get out of hand, things will get out of hand with tension and then you're at each others' throats sooner rather than later.  It's going to happen.    

Now with these guys, they are a family.  They travel together, eat together, hang out together, everything while on the road.  Nothing like being at home.  At home, you have outlets or can get out.  On the road, you can tolerate the same group of people 24/7 for a good number of days, but if you don't have the referee, right out of the shoot things can (and will) go badly.  This translates to your day, your routine and in this case the way the team plays on the court.  All we see is League Pass and the game.  We see nothing really beforehand or after.  

All this to say, I would guess GS either doesn't have that referee or they don't have a very good one.  What makes a good referee on the road?  I don't know but a class clown helps smooth over things for a good while before everybody catches on.  They keep everything light, fun and funny because living confined together 24/7 is for lack of a better example, eventually sounds like prison.  Nobody wants that.  Also, a glue guy that can listen well individually to players, has their backs, knows what to anticipate, etc. would help as well.

Eventually, it all breaks down no matter who you have as the moderator or moderators.  Nobody tells us the fans about those people because for the most part, we buy our LP and that's all we need and that's all that's offered.  But we do all find those NBA documentaries fascinating, don't we?  Those docs are typically about what goes on behind the scenes and give us a greater understand of the life of a basketball player.  

I don't recall seeing a documentary yet focused entirely on "playing on the road" but it would be an excellent idea for a 30 for 30-like deal.

Teams that have these glue guys and can keep the players loose yet focused on the main task at hand and their eye on the dream at hand, shutting up the "home" crowd, may be the ones that have the better road record.  It may be a player or it may be staff person/coach.

All that to say, I have no clue.  I can only speculate.  It could be that it is all in GSW's heads, which would be the ultimate ironic thing since their coach is the master of heads games himself yet he can't see the forest for the trees!  Perfect!!  Add me to the Not Friend of the GSW list, Ktron!!  

db

DB,
LOL. Brevity is not your hallmark but welcome to the ‘I hate Golden State’ Fraternity.
I understand what you're saying in regards to camaraderie, leadership and shutting down the home crowd but why Are some teams better at that than others and does it really translates to wins or losses.

The question came to mind as I was watching a game this weekend with a nephew who is not a big sports buff but will watch occasionally.
The PBP announcer mentioned that GSW is a terrible road team and sited their record -at the time 17-6 at home but 5-17 on the road.
My nephew looked at me and asked why is that? How come they have so much trouble on someone else’s home court and I couldn’t answer that so I came here to our panel of experts because I began to ask myself that same question and couldn’t come up with any sort of reasoning.
You made some good points and most of it was regarding off the court and on the road. How does this translate onto the court? Maybe I missed something. I’ll revisit your post.
It sounds like a simple question and thats why Im struggling because as you all know, I’m simple. :>0.
Thanks again DB.
Anyone else have a theory? Boss, Bob H anyone?

We should probably shorten/tighten it up a bit by asking why does what looks like a really good team can't seem to win on the road.  There are a ton of teams in the NBA that suck on the road and deserve it.  GSW doesn't seem to deserve it.  Very out of place.  

I don't think I had an answer in my diatribe!  Just the build up to an away game is completely different than a home game and anything that just barely sets the train off the tracks prior to an away game magnifies itself 10-fold on the road and extends to the floor and the actual game.  Like quicksand, maybe.  More mental than anything else.  There really is no concrete reason why GSW has this discrepancy.  Maybe the Guru Coach himself will tell us if the press asks!

db

Ktron wrote:

dboss wrote:Bobh

Whenever players talk about going on the road for an extended trip they recognize that it is a grind.  The longer the trip, the more the grind and I am not talking about driving distances.  Teams fly on Jets!  

Something has to be wrong with the scheduling when teams have only one 5 game road trip for the entire season, while other teams are faced with multiple extended road trips.

Help me out here Boss,

When a team is being referred to as a bad road team I know what that means. The team has trouble winning on the road.
My question is, Why?

For instance, GS has a very poor road record. Why do you think that is? I know it depends on which team we are talking about that has trouble winning road games but what in your opinion could be the reason(s) why? Particularly in GS case?

Ktron

Sorry that it took me so long to get back to you about this.

The GSW play better at home on both offense and defense (119.2 PPG for and 113.1 PPG allowed)

On the road, they average 116.2 PPG and surrender 122.9 PPG. That drop off is rather significant especially on the defensive side of the ball.

So the short answer is that GS is a bad defensive road team.

I have always been of the belief that teams win on the road because they are good defensive teams.

Home teams have some built-ins like familiarity while playing in their building and on their court. the home fans can also influence the energy level and intensity of the game. Winning on the road is hard.

GS is not a good defensive team in general because they are lacking an important element. They do not have enough depth in the middle. The War Criminal makes less big time plays and Looney is just a blue collar guy that cannot defend away from the paint. Wiseman cannot stay healthy enough to be available and improve his craft on the court.

GS is the defending champion. They did not replace two very good defenders from last year in Otto Porter and Gary Payton II. They have the biggest target on their back.

Even at home they surrender 113.1 PPG which is more than Boston surrenders combined home and road (112 PPG)

Dboss, DB

Both of you bring more clarity as to why in particular GS is trash on the road.

One factor that dboss brought up is that they are the defending champs and that speaks loudly as to a good part of the issue.

They're defending champs playing on another teams home court and that other team has raised their level of play simply because they are playing the defending champs. Compound that with the fact that GS is a bad defensive team makes it that much harder to win elsewhere besides Chase where they themselves are more comfortable as db pointed out and of course the home crowd gives them a burst as well.

I’m sure that there is other reasons that may contribute , I Just dont know what they could be.

As far as other teams that are great at home but poo poo on the road, haven’t looked but I'm sure there are a few more and their reason may differ in some areas from GS.
That’s something worth delving into as well.