Full breakdown of the newly released Boston Celtics schedule

The 2023-24 NBA schedule is now officially out. You can see the whole thing here. Let’s just dive right in: 

The season opens on October 25, a Wednesday night in New York. The home opener is two nights later, Friday, October 27, against the Miami Heat. 

Reunion dates: 

• Marcus Smart and the Grizzlies at Memphis on November 19.

• Ime Udoka and the Rockets in Boston Saturday January 13.

• Udoka and the Rockets in Houston on January 21 

• Grant Williams, Kyrie Irving, and the Mavs at Dallas the next night on January 22

• Smart and Memphis in Boston Sunday February 4

• Williams, Irving, and the Mavs in Boston Friday March 1

Big trips: 

• Four game road trip (Philadelphia, Toronto, Memphis, Charlotte) November 15-20. 

• Four game road trip (Golden State, Sacramento, LA Clippers, LA Lakers) December 18-25. 

• Five game road trip (Cleveland, Denver, Phoenix, Portland, Utah) March 4-12. 

• Six game road trip (Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta twice, New Orleans, Charlotte) March 21-April 1.

Longest home stand: 

• January 27-February 9 (7 games) vs. LA Clippers, New Orleans, Indiana, LA Lakers, Memphis, Atlanta, Washington

Back-to-backs:

Boston plays 14 back-to-backs, four of which split home/road games. There are two back-to-backs in November, three in December, four in January, one in February (due to the All Star break), three in March, and one in April. 

The toughest is the March Portland/Utah back-to-back. Utah is the last game of a five-game trip, and coming from Portland the night before and flying into altitude makes it a very tough game. That's a schedule loss if there ever was one. 

Two back-to-backs make a fun quirk in December as Boston plays four home games against two teams, the Cavs and Magic. The Cleveland/Orlando back-to-back splits the two home series. 

Toughest month: March

They have five home games, 11 road games in the month. The road games include matchups in Cleveland, Denver, Phoenix, the dreaded Portland/Utah back to back, Atlanta twice, and New Orleans. There's also a Detroit/Chicago back-to-back in that mix. This is where the longest road trip of the season falls. 

Marquee Home Games (aside from the reunion games already mentioned): 

• Home opener vs. Miami, 10/27

• Milwaukee, 11/22 & 3/20

• Trae Young and the Hawks, 11/26 & 2/7

• Nikola Jokic and the champion Nuggets, 1/19

• Golden State Warriors, 3/3

• LA Clippers, 1/27

• LA Lakers, 2/1

• Zion Williamson and New Orleans, 1/29

• Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns, 3/14

The Celtics will appear on national TV, including NBA TV, 27 times this season. They’ll play 15 of those on ABC/ESPN, 10 on TNT, and two on NBA TV

Keep in mind this does NOT include the in-season tournament. The week of December 4 is blocked out for the in-season tournament. 

DEC 4 • IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL* (LOCATION TBD)

DEC 5 • IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL* (LOCATION TBD)

DEC 6 • STANDARD REGULAR SEASON GAME* (LOCATION TBD)

DEC 7 • IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL* (LAS VEGAS)

DEC 8 • STANDARD REGULAR SEASON GAME* (LOCATION TBD)

DEC 9 • IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP* (LAS VEGAS)

*subject to change

FAMILY FRIENDLY GAMES: 

• Sunday, December 27: Orlando Magic, 3:00 p.m. tip

• Sunday, March 3: Golden State Warriors, 3:30 p.m. tip

• Sunday, April 14: Washington Wizards, 1:00 p.m tip

FUN ROAD TRIPS

Want to take a long weekend and spend it in a fun city? Try these games: 

• Sunday, February 11 at Miami

• Saturday, March 9 at Phoenix

• Saturday, March 30 at New Orleans

POSITIVE SPIN: 

According to Positive Residual, the Celtics have the most rest-advantage games on the schedule at 16: 

That means there are 16 games where Boston has more rest than the opponent heading into the game. 

However, there are 11 where they have a rest disadvantage. Thirteen is the most in the league. Eight is the fewest, so they're on the higher end. The +5 in rest advantaged games is tied with Minnesota and Portland for highest in the NBA. 

Also, as of opening night based on the previous year’s records, Boston has the third-easiest strength of schedule. That, obviously, will change as teams improve or regress from last season. 

IN CONCLUSION

Let’s all make the Larry Bird joke: “41 home, 41 away … looks good.” Ultimately, every team has challenges with the schedule. The play-in week is weird, but we’ll get used to that eventually. Right now it looks like the early part of the schedule is the easier part, with road games really piling up later in the schedule and that monster March. 

If there's a bright side, six of Boston’s final seven games are at home, so if they need to make a late push for seeding, it’s right there for them. They’ll finish with home games against OKC, Sacramento, Portland, New York, Charlotte, and Washington … with a road game in Milwaukee mixed in. 

If they're in a tight race with the Bucks and want to grab the top seed, they’ll have a great chance to make up a lot of ground in a short amount of time.