New York Knicks: The Four-In-Five Road Trips
In a world where the NFL lacks a concern in player safety by pushing to expand their season up to 17 or even 18 games (without success), the NBA, by expanding the All-Star break from one weekend to a full week, has taken a step towards player safety and injury protection.
Or have they?
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The NBA regular-season schedule remained the same, the season starts late in October and ends in April. The NBA, as they took care of the players’ mid-season rest, didn’t push the regular season schedule to reflect said mid-season expansion. As a result, the players still have to gut 82-games in the same period of time as before.
(Four games in five days: two back-to-backs with one travel day/day off in between.)
The consequence? NBA teams play four games in five days a total of 70 times.
The impact?
"“Two back-to-backs with a day off in between is 3.7 points [per 100 possessions] worse.” – Tom Haberstroh"
The New York Knicks will play three.
1. Nov. 4-8: 2,120 miles.
- Nov. 4 vs. Washington Wizards (0 mi)
- Nov. 5 @ Detroit Pistons (614 mi)
- Nov. 7 @ Brooklyn Nets (618 mi)
- Nov. 8 @ Atlanta Hawks (888 mi)
This is the longest five-day road trip for the Knicks. Unfortunately for them, three out of the four teams they face in this road trip are playoff-bound teams (Wizards, Nets and Hawks).
| Rk | Team | ATL | BRK | DET | WAS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | New York Knicks | 2-2 | 3-1 | 1-2 | 0-3 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/18/2014.
2. Jan. 4-8: 1,923 miles.
- Jan. 4 vs. Milwaukee Bucks (0 mi)
- Jan. 5 @ Memphis Grizzlies (955 mi)
- Jan. 7 @ Washington Wizards (764 mi)
- Jan. 8 vs. Houston Rockets (204 mi)
Second longest five-day road trip for the Knicks. Again, they face three playoff-bound teams in the Houston Rockets, Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies. When you look at the Knicks’ record against three of these four teams, their stretch looks even worse as they only won games against the Milwaukee Bucks.
| Rk | Team | HOU | MEM | MIL | WAS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | New York Knicks | 0-2 | 0-2 | 3-1 | 0-3 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/18/2014.
3. March 19-23: 762 miles.
- March 19 vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (0 mi)
- March 20 @ Philadelphia 76ers (81 mi)
- March 22 @ Toronto Raptors (337 mi)
- March 23 vs. Memphis Grizzlies (344 mi)
Last and definitely least, the shortest and “easiest” of their five day road trips. The Knicks only have two games against playoff-bound teams against the Raptors and the Grizzlies.
| Rk | Team | MEM | MIN | PHI | TOR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | New York Knicks | 0-2 | 1-1 | 3-1 | 2-2 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/18/2014.
Although the Knicks’ road trips might not be the longest (distance-wise), they’re definitely some of the toughest. As a struggling road team (19-22) the Knicks will have to dig deep into their “strengths” to try and come out with positive results out of the previous four-in-fives. Or maybe they’ll mail it in, as we’re expecting them to, in a season where they’re learning and developing the triangle offense that’ll take over their rebuilt team in 2015-16.