Horrible Scheduling for the Playoffs: Where's the Rest for the #1 Seed?

[Yakmanev]

Let's not forget other things go on inside of these buildings too other than basketball.

We will beat Detroit. And personally I'd rather they play 1 on and 1 off through the entire playoffs. It gets a rhythm and doesn't collect rust.

[Roy Hobbs]

Let's not forget other things go on inside of these buildings too other than basketball.

We will beat Detroit. And personally I'd rather they play 1 on and 1 off through the entire playoffs. It gets a rhythm and doesn't collect rust.

Ah, that's true, nice point.  The Bruins games were a potential conflict in the first round, I remember.  I'm sure some of the other teams have other commitments, as well.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Again, I point towards the situation had the Celtics won game 6 against Atlanta.  They would've started game one against the Cavs that Sunday and pressumably played the whole second round on one day rest anyways.

Why do you assume that?  We would have started the series against Cleveland earlier, but we would have had to end it by the same day, I'm presuming.  That would have given us two extra days of rest to be put in between the games somewhere.

Ok, we already know that the Celtics went to 7 games and we saw the result, no two days rest in the second round.

Let's say Detroit would've gone to 7 games in the first round and would've gone to 7 games in the second round too. They at the least would've had one two days rest because according to the tv schedule, the NBA seemed to want to finish the East round on Sunday seeing as all the game sevens of the East were scheduled for yesterday.

Does that seem fair? That the Celtics would've had no rest had they gone the distance, and that Detroit would've at the least had one two day rest in the round?

Again, different circumstances given similar situations and results... the Celtics had the best record in the NBA, the schedule should've been more favorable to them or at the very least find a way to give them some rest during the second round, just like all other teams would've gotten anyways.

And again, no two day rest since the third game in the first round is an awfully long time.  Does it make sense that we got two two days rest early in the first round and none since then? I can't seem to find any logic in that.

[TrueGreen]

I think rest would be nice, but more important, I believe, is that the C's will be home for almost a week even though they are playing every other nite. The traveling between games is the killer. I do fear the 2-3-2 setup in the finals. I think it works against the team with the supposed home court advantage. It is likely the opponent will win one of the first two. Then the C's are away from home for a week, maybe. But again, maybe the lack of travel will give us a chance away from home. And PP's home cooking might also be an advantage. I'm jumping the gun, but I believe.

[Roy Hobbs]

Again, I point towards the situation had the Celtics won game 6 against Atlanta.  They would've started game one against the Cavs that Sunday and pressumably played the whole second round on one day rest anyways.

Why do you assume that?  We would have started the series against Cleveland earlier, but we would have had to end it by the same day, I'm presuming.  That would have given us two extra days of rest to be put in between the games somewhere.

Ok, we already know that the Celtics went to 7 games and we saw the result, no two days rest in the second round.

Let's say Detroit would've gone to 7 games in the first round and would've gone to 7 games in the second round too. They at the least would've had one two days rest because according to the tv schedule, the NBA seemed to want to finish the East round on Sunday seeing as all the game sevens of the East were scheduled for yesterday.

Does that seem fair? That the Celtics would've had no rest had they gone the distance, and that Detroit would've at the least had one two day rest in the round?

Is that because Detroit started on Saturday?  The Celtics couldn't start on Saturday, because the Bruins had a home game that day.  That forced them to start on Sunday, and them going seven against two inferior opponents pretty much forced the NBA's hand.

EDIT: The Pistons started on Sunday, as well.  Why would they have been getting more rest?  We would have had the same number of off days, ours just came up front, while Detroit only got an extra day of rest once in the first round.

[wdleehi]

The Celtics are getting little rest because they are making their opponents wait.  How many days off should the Piston have to sit through? 


The lack of days off would not be a problem is the Celtics could win one or 2 games on the road.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I think rest would be nice, but more important, I believe, is that the C's will be home for almost a week even though they are playing every other nite. The traveling between games is the killer. I do fear the 2-3-2 setup in the finals. I think it works against the team with the supposed home court advantage. It is likely the opponent will win one of the first two. Then the C's are away from home for a week, maybe. But again, maybe the lack of travel will give us a chance away from home. And PP's home cooking might also be an advantage. I'm jumping the gun, but I believe.

You have a good point there, but I still would've liked for the NBA to have found a way to at the least give the Celtics a two day rest either late in the first round or at some point during the second round... it doesn't make sense to me that they would give them two two days rest early in the first round, when it really doesn't matter. Again, it's poor planning regardless if the Celtics were winning or losing their games. No two days rest since the third game against Atlanta is too long a time to go without an extra days rest.

Again, I point towards the situation had the Celtics won game 6 against Atlanta.  They would've started game one against the Cavs that Sunday and pressumably played the whole second round on one day rest anyways.

Why do you assume that?  We would have started the series against Cleveland earlier, but we would have had to end it by the same day, I'm presuming.  That would have given us two extra days of rest to be put in between the games somewhere.

Ok, we already know that the Celtics went to 7 games and we saw the result, no two days rest in the second round.

Let's say Detroit would've gone to 7 games in the first round and would've gone to 7 games in the second round too. They at the least would've had one two days rest because according to the tv schedule, the NBA seemed to want to finish the East round on Sunday seeing as all the game sevens of the East were scheduled for yesterday.

Does that seem fair? That the Celtics would've had no rest had they gone the distance, and that Detroit would've at the least had one two day rest in the round?

Is that because Detroit started on Saturday?  The Celtics couldn't start on Saturday, because the Bruins had a home game that day.

No, Detroit started on Sunday too, but would've finished the first round on the 3rd while the Celtics would've finished on the 4th.

EDIT: The Pistons started on Sunday, as well.  Why would they have been getting more rest?  We would have had the same number of off days, ours just came up front, while Detroit only got an extra day of rest once in the first round.

Exactly, which is quite moronic scheduling. We're the number 1 seed, whe should've had the best schedule that would've at the least guaranteed a bit of rest in the second round.

[Section 87]

The Celtics earned home-court advantage by having the best record in the league, and a top seed by having the best record in the east. They did not earn any scheduling advantage, because that's not the way it works. Why on earth should they get a scheduling advantage? The scheduling involves a lot of factors; such as existing events scheduled at arenas, TV contracts, TV schedules, and the results of the various series. Adding an advantage for top-seeded teams would add more complication, and it would also give an additional advantage that's simply not justified.

[EJPLAYA]

They gave away their rest by going 7 games in both series. Had they not they would have had some...

[Andy Jick]

The Celtics earned home-court advantage by having the best record in the league, and a top seed by having the best record in the east. They did not earn any scheduling advantage, because that's not the way it works. Why on earth should they get a scheduling advantage? The scheduling involves a lot of factors; such as existing events scheduled at arenas, TV contracts, TV schedules, and the results of the various series. Adding an advantage for top-seeded teams would add more complication, and it would also give an additional advantage that's simply not justified.

TP to you...most intelligent post in this thread.

[BudweiserCeltic]

They gave away their rest by going 7 games in both series. Had they not they would have had some...

Thanks for reading the thread, since as I've already pointed out, given the same circumstances for all teams, the Celtics would've still ended up with the least amount of rest even when they're the best seed.

Could have we avoided this by winning earlier? Sure, but that'still no excuse for the crappy scheduling job the NBA did. It makes no sense to give them days off early in the playoffs and deprive them of rest, schedule wise, in rounds that follow. It's completely stupid. The Celtics should've had a two days rest once in the first round, and once in the second round, just as the other teams would've had.

I would say the Cavs got screwed too, but they would've had 3 instances with two days rest in the first round had they gone 7.

You seriously see nothing wrong or odd with this? Even in worst-case scenarios, the NBA should've made sure that teams at the least get a two days rest in the second round.  Just one, that's not hard to do.

The Celtics earned home-court advantage by having the best record in the league, and a top seed by having the best record in the east. They did not earn any scheduling advantage, because that's not the way it works. Why on earth should they get a scheduling advantage? The scheduling involves a lot of factors; such as existing events scheduled at arenas, TV contracts, TV schedules, and the results of the various series. Adding an advantage for top-seeded teams would add more complication, and it would also give an additional advantage that's simply not justified.

I'm not advocating that the Celtics should have an advantage in the schedule, but since the schedule clearly favors some teams over others, the Celtics should've the benefit for simply being the top seed.

[Bankshot]

we all know that stern has it in for the celtics.  he fixed the lottery.  he influences his refs.

Yeah, I'm really upset with the way he fixed the playoffs so the Celtics had to lose both round 1 and round 2. He gave the series to LeBron James to punish the Celtics.

Of course it turned out that they didn't give the series to Lebron, but it sure as heck wasn't because they didn't try.

[bdm860]

BudweiserCeltic, I hear what you're saying (I don't agree, but I understand your point) but I don't think you're looking at the whole picture here, because here's something else to think about: if the Celtics/Pistons goes 7 games and the Western Conference Finals goes 7 games, then the Celtics will get an extra days rest (if they win the East) over whoever comes out of the West.   Knowing we made it this far already, I'd rather have an extra day off between the ECF and the Finals, then somewhere else in between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round.

I know everyone else has said it, that the Celtics didn't do their part by having each round go 7 games, but if the Celtics took care of the Hawks and Cleveland in 4-5 games, maybe then they'd have too much rest if they were pre-scheduled for days off later in those series and come out rusty in one of their Game 1's and then lose home court all together.  Didn't the Lakers come out a little rusty and lose Game 1 of the Finals in 2001 because they had too long of a lay off?  Maybe the NBA thought for sure the Celtics should beat the Hawks in 4 or 5, and Cleveland in 5 or 6, so the NBA didn't want them to have too much of a rest and fall out of sync.  So maybe the league was looking out for the Celtics trying to give them just the right amount of rest, but the C's just didn't do their part.  (Not saying this is what I believe, just a thought...)

[Triboy16]

lets forget it. I hope the celts are having a long day at the sauna/steam room and resting alot. They will need it for tomorrow