It’s NBA schedule day. The full NBA schedule is out, including Boston’s. You can find the Celtics schedule here.
Let’s dive into what’s in store.
The World Champs open up their title defense on October 22, at home, against the New York Knicks. That will be the banner raising and ring ceremony.
They’ll only be at home for two of their first eight games of the season, heading to Washington and Detroit after opening night, returning for a game against Milwaukee, and then embarking on an Indy/Charlotte/Atlanta trip where they play the Hornets in one of three same-city series (and their only same-city back-to-back) of the season.
November is evenly split between home and road games with seven each. December is a home-heavy month with nine at home and three on the road but unscheduled NBA Cup games are included so there could be some shifting in either direction on that plus a couple of games in Vegas.
January is a road-heavy month with 10 out of 16 on the road, including Boston’s first west coast swing during the third full week. February is also road-heavy with four at home and seven away, but that's broken up by the All-Star break.
March starts out with six at home but ends with six on the road in Boston’s second trip out west. They close things out in April with five home games and just a quick New York to Orlando road back-to-back mixed in.
Here are some initial thoughts:
Five of Boston’s 13 back-to-backs happen before Kristaps Porzingis is expected to return:
November 1 & 2: Two games in Charlotte
November 12 & 13: Atlanta & at Brooklyn
November 24 & 25: Minnesota & the Clippers
December 1 & 2: at Cleveland & Miami
December 6 & 7: Milwaukee & Memphis
That December stretch is the toughest week of the schedule with five games in seven nights. Luckily four of them are at home but the Cavs, Heat, Pistons, Bucks, and Grizzlies will be a very difficult stretch for Boston, even with the home cooking. But also, the Cavs, Heat, Bucks, and Grizzlies all have difficult bigs to handle.
The Celtics are actually getting a little lucky with Charlotte and Brooklyn as the early back-to-back opponents. Without Porzingis and Al Horford, who as we all know sits on back-to-backs, they can probably navigate those two fairly well.
The Wolves and Clippers set will be tough. I expect Horford to be big against Minnesota so the backups will have to handle the Clippers. It won’t be easy, so you’ll have to expect some tough going at the start of December.
Their toughest back-to-back will be in March when they start at Miami at 7 p.m. and then go to Brooklyn for a 6 p.m. tip the next night.
Here are some home games of note:
October 22: vs. New York - Ring night
October 28: vs. Milwaukee
November 6: vs. Golden State - Maybe the loudest boos ever for an opposing coach in Boston
November 24: vs. Minnesota
December 2: vs. Miami
December 7: vs. Memphis - Marcus Smart’s first on-court game vs. Boston?
December 25: vs. Philadelphia - Christmas Day
January 12: vs. New Orleans
January 27: vs. Houston - If you care about Ime Udoka returning anymore
February 6: vs. Dallas
February 12: vs. San Antonio
March 2: vs. Denver
March 5: vs. Portland - Robert Williams’ healthy return?
March 8: vs. LA Lakers
March 12: vs. OKC
Boston plays 34 nationally televised games if you count NBA TV, but there are only eight of those. Ten games are on TNT, ten are on ESPN, six are on ABC. For fans outside of the Boston market who don’t want to splurge on League Pass, it’s a really good chance to catch almost half their games.
Overall, nothing stands out as being too crazy in this schedule. The Celtics seem to be in a decent position to handle the Porzingis absence with 18 home games and 13 road games within the expected window before he returns. January will be tough but the All-Star break will hit at a nice time to evaluate his progress before a strong home finish. With Miami, New York, and Orlando on the April schedule, they could potentially face some head-to-head competition for seeding while games against Washington and Charlotte twice give the some potentially easy wins should they need to hold anyone off.