Boston Celtics schedule released: Games of note and full month-by-month breakdown

The Celtics' schedule for this upcoming season has been released. You can find the whole thing here. 

The Celtics’ regular season schedule currently includes 80 games, with two additional matchups to be determined in December based on NBA Cup standings. Group Play begins on October 31 in Philadelphia, followed by a road game in Orlando on November 7. The Celtics will then host Brooklyn on November 21 and Detroit on November 26 at TD Garden to round out Group Play.

Boston will be featured on national television 25 times throughout the upcoming season, including seven games on Amazon Prime, six each on ESPN/ESPN App and NBC/Peacock, four on Peacock, and two on ABC/ESPN App.

Home games of note: 

• November 1- Rockets & Ime Udoka
• December 5- Lakers
• January 7- Nuggets & Nikola Jokić
• January 10- Spurs & Victor Wembanyama
• January 26- Trail Blazers & Jrue Holiday
• January 28- Hawks & Kristaps Porziņģis
• February 1- Bucks & Giannis Antetokounmpo
• March 6- Mavs & Cooper Flagg
• March 18- Warriors
• March 25- Thunder

Here’s a full breakdown of the schedule: 

OCTOBER

HOME: 76ers, Cavs

AWAY: Knicks, Pistons, Pelicans, 76ers

BACK-TO-BACKS: One (Detroit/New Orleans)

NATIONAL GAMES: Three

ANALYSIS: The Celtics will get a lot of practice time ahead of the start of the regular season. Their first two preseason games are on the road, then they play the Cavs on October 12 and then the Raptors on October 15, both at home, followed by a week off before opening the season against the Sixers.

Then they have a tough stretch of three games in four nights going to New York and then Detroit and New Orleans on a back-to-back. Actually, that last week of October is a tough one if you start with the back-to-back because it kicks off a five-in-seven (or six-in-nine if you start with the Knicks game). They come home to face the Cavs on Wednesday, October 29, but that might as well be a road game since they're back out to Philly for the front end of a back-to-back with Houston at home. 

NOVEMBER

HOME: Rockets, Jazz, Wizards, Grizzlies, Clippers, Nets, Magic, Pistons

AWAY: Magic twice, 76ers, Nets, Timberwolves, Cavs. 

BACK-TO-BACKS: Three

NATIONAL GAMES: Two

ANALYSIS: This is a decent month for the Celtics. The schedule is a little home-heavy, the back-to-backs are spread out, and their one road trip includes two consecutive games in Orlando. There is a road/home back-to-back with Philly and Memphis, giving them a three-in-four in the second week, but that's followed by three days off. They also have three different instances of two days off, two of them during a three-game homestand. 

DECEMBER*

HOME: Knicks, Lakers, Heat, Pacers

AWAY: Wizards, Raptors twice, Pacers, Blazers, Jazz

BACK-TO-BACKS: Two

NATIONAL GAMES: Three

* There is a week blocked off for in-season tournament games, so this is not the final count for games. Obviously, those games haven't been scheduled yet and depend on how Boston is doing in the in-season tournament.

ANALYSIS: It’s hard to say how this month will go. Maybe the Celtics make a run and really go for the Emirates Cup because it’s the only thing they can conceivably win this season. Maybe they get knocked out early and have to go on the road. It’s hard to say. 

We will see LeBron James, Luka Dončić, and the Lakers on December 5. It comes on a back-to-back after a road game in Washington, which isn’t too bad. The other back-to-back is a home/road versus Miami and Toronto. It’s not awful. So far the Celtics have been spared the worst of the back-to-backs. 

The Celtics have a nice three-day off stretch between December 23 and Christmas. The first chance to see Holiday with the Blazers comes on December 28 in Portland. It’s part of Boston’s first west coast swing that includes Utah, Sacramento, and the Clippers. This will be their longest road trip of the year.

JANUARY

HOME: Bulls, Nuggets, Raptors, Spurs, Pacers, Blazers, Hawks, Kings

AWAY: Kings, Clippers, Pacers, Heat, Hawks, Pistons, Nets, Bulls

BACK-TO-BACKS: Two

NATIONAL GAMES: Three

ANALYSIS: It’s a busy 16-game schedule this month. They wrap up their longest road trip of the season with four at home, but they happen over six days, which includes a back-to-back versus Toronto and San Antonio. The schedule eases up with a four-game trip to Indy, Miami, Atlanta, and Detroit. The Hawks game is obviously the first chance to see Porziņģis again. They come home for one of those road games at home because after facing the Pacers, they head right back out for a back-to-back in Brooklyn and Chicago. They end the month at home against Portland, Atlanta, and Sacramento. 

FEBRUARY

HOME: Bucks, Heat, Knicks, Bulls, Nets

AWAY: Mavs, Rockets, Warriors, Lakers, Suns, Nuggets

BACK-TO-BACKS: Two

NATIONAL GAMES: Six

ANALYSIS: The Celtics wrap up their four-game homestand with the Bucks game to start the month and then head out for a Dallas/Houston back-to-back. If you’re gonna do three-in-four, a fairly close back-to-back on the road like that isn’t bad. Then Boston comes home for three games before the All-Star break. They come out of the break on their second west coast swing (the Warriors-through-Nuggets stretch). Phoenix and Denver are on a back-to-back. That's not the worst, but going to Denver on the back-end isn’t easy. 

I’m assuming we’ll get to see Al Horford in the Warriors game. 

MARCH

HOME: 76ers, Hornets, Mavs, Wizards, Suns, Warriors, Grizzlies, Timberwolves, Thunder, Hawks

AWAY: Bucks, Cavs, Spurs, Thunder, Grizzlies, Hornets, Hawks

BACK-TO-BACKS: Two

NATIONAL GAMES: Seven

ANALYSIS: Another busy 16-game slate but again, more home than road games. Just two back-to-backs, one to start the month (home vs. Philly/away at Milwaukee) and one to end it (road games in Charlotte and Atlanta). Neither is particularly rough, which is nice. This is mostly an every-other-day month with one extra day between Minnesota and OKC home games at the end of the month. 

APRIL

HOME: Raptors, Hornets, Pelicans, Magic

AWAY: Heat, Bucks, Knicks

BACK-TO-BACKS: One

NATIONAL GAMES: One

ANALYSIS: They finish the season playing four of their last five at home. Their one back-to-back is a road game against the Knicks and a home game against the Pelicans. 

This is as straightforward a schedule as I’ve seen. No one month stands out as a gauntlet. There will be some tough stretches like there are in any schedule, especially for this team. I can see them losing six of eight games at the end of November (Orlando, Detroit, Minnesota, Cleveland, New York, Washington, LA Lakers, Toronto). That could actually include a five-game losing streak.

It’s a shame this team gets this schedule. Considering the circumstances, I would have rather seen this year’s team get last season’s weirdly compressed schedule that stuffed two western swings into the later part of the season. 

I’m glad the league got to avoid ridiculous back-to-backs. All of Boston’s seem pretty manageable. 

The worst part of this year’s schedule is the introduction of all the streaming services. Here’s a viewing guide from the league: