After a lengthy wait and the consumption of several leaks, the NBA has finally arrived, painting the picture of how the upcoming season could turn out for the upcoming season.
Here is a detailed breakdown of the 2014-15 Clippers schedule along with some analysis:
National TV Appearances
Once again, the world will be getting a heavy dose of the Los Angeles Clippers. Between NBA TV, ABC, ESPN, and TNT, the Clippers will play a league-high (tied with Oklahoma City) 32 national television games: four on ABC, nine on TNT and NBA TV, and 10 on ESPN.
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As always, the Clippers will be matched up against the best of the best as the NBA looks at national televised games as an opportunity to showcase their best product–the Clippers, as of late, falls into that grouping coming off a franchise-best 57 win season. A few of the teams opposite of the Clippers’ national television schedule: LeBron James‘ Cleveland Cavaliers, Kevin Durant‘s Oklahoma City Thunder, Derrick Rose‘s Chicago Bulls, and Damian Lillard‘s Portland Trail Blazers.
One thing must be noted: with the league’s ability to impact the technology increase, the opportunity to remove or add national games is on the table. We’ve seen it occur in the past as the NBA attempts to adjust to circumstances, the biggest one being injury. The Clippers could fall victim to this circumstance, decreasing or increasing their national games, so that 32 could shift throughout the season.
Back-to-Back’s
The ugly part of NBA scheduling. Due to time restraints, teams are forced to participate in back-to-back affairs to finish the season in a timely manner. For the Clippers, they’ll be participating in 29 back-to-back. As Jovan Buha of ESPN Los Angeles noted, while the amount of back-to-backs are pretty high, they’ve some favorable matchups that could play in their favor.
Clips lucked out: They have 20 back-to-backs, but only five -- at SAS, at TOR, at DAL, at POR, & at PHX -- are games they won't be favored.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) August 13, 2014
The Clippers' back-to-backs include Kings (twice), Jazz (twice), Bucks (twice), Lakers (twice) and Magic (once).
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) August 13, 2014
A step above back-to-backs, the Clippers will also take part in the vaunted ‘four games in five nights’ stand, oddly, at the beginning of the season vs. OKC (10/30), at LAL (10/31), vs. SAC (10/2), and vs. UTA (10/3).
Home/Road Stands
Via the scheduling press release, the Los Angeles Clippers will embark on three road trips that consist of four or more games. There’s the noted Grammy road trip which takes place in January/February as well as a four-game trip and a seven-game trip.
November 17 – 29: Seven-game road trip (ORL, MIA, MEM, CHA, DET, HOU, UTA)
January 28 – February 9: Eight-game road trip (UTA, NOP, SAS, BKN, CLE, TOR, OKC, DAL)
February 25 – March 2: Four-game road trip (HOU, MEM, CHI, MIN)
Fortunately for Los Angeles, these road trips occur toward the beginning and middle of the season allowing the Clippers to gain comfort as the season nears an end.
For home stands, the Clippers will participate in four (four or more consecutive games), including a 9-game home stand from December to January.
November 8 – 17: Four-game home stand (POR, SAS, PHX, CHI)
December 1 – 8: Four-game home stand (MIN, ORL, NOP, PHX)
December 25 – January 11: Nine-game home stand (GSW, TOR, UTA, NYK, PHI, ATL, LAL, DAL, MIA)
February 11 – 25: Four-game home stand (HOU, SAS, SAC, MEM)
Following the final home and road stands, the Clippers are given a balanced schedule of home and away to end the season.
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