The Pacers' schedule is out, so let's take a look.
Yep, just as we thought. Eighty-two games. 41 at home and 41 on the road.
Just like all the others.
Except ...
All schedules are not created equally, and the Pacers' calendar for the upcoming season could be more forgiving than most.
The first thing most players, coaches and general managers tend to do when their team's schedule is released is to tally the back-to-back sets, which are as good an indicator as any of a schedule's degree of difficulty.
The Pacers have 17 of them, a relatively low number. They had 17 last season as well, but 20 two seasons ago and 21 three years ago, if the three consecutive games they had to play as the result of a weather-caused cancellation counts as two.
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Other circumstances factor into a schedule's degree of difficulty, however. Perhaps you get to play an opponent when its star player is injured. Or, maybe an opponent is finishing up a long road trip. Or, possibly you get to play a team that made several off-season changes at the beginning of the season, before it finds its chemistry.
The Pacers, who have signed eight new players for the upcoming season, are one of those teams. They open the season on Oct. 28 at Toronto, and play their home opener the following night against Memphis. Six of their first 10 games are at home, a reasonable way to start a season.
Highlights of their schedule include:
- Defending champion Golden State comes to Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Tuesday, Dec. 8. The Pacers have defeated the Warriors at The Fieldhouse in seven of the last eight games. That includes last season, when Rodney Stuckey scored 30 points on a sprained ankle in 28-plus minutes and the Warriors were without Steph Curry, who had a sprained ankle of his own.
- Finals runner-up Cleveland, with sellout activator LeBron James, visits on Monday, Feb. 1 and Wednesday, April 6.
- San Antonio, with whom former Pacers forward David West signed as a free agent this summer, comes to The Fieldhouse on Monday, March 7.
- The Los Angeles Lakers, featuring former Pacers center Roy Hibbert, play here on Monday, Feb. 8.
- Boston, featuring former Butler coach Brad Stevens and first-round draft pick R.J. Hunter, an Indianapolis native, comes to town on Wednesday, Nov. 4 and Tuesday, March 15.
- The Pacers have another New Year's Eve game at The Fieldhouse, this time against Milwaukee at 6 p.m.
- Their most difficult stretch comes from Feb. 19—the first game after the All-Star break—through March 5. Seven of their 10 games over those 15 days are on the road, and they have three back-to-back sets in that period.
- As is usually the case, they close the season with a home-heavy stretch,with 11 of their final 16 games at The Fieldhouse. The last game, however, will be on the road, at Milwaukee, in the second half of a back-to-back set.
- The Pacers will make seven appearances on ESPN national games: home games against Miami on Nov. 6 and Dec. 11; a home game against Cleveland on April 6; and road games at Boston (Jan. 13), Golden State (Jan. 22), Atlanta (Feb. 5) and Oklahoma City (Feb. 19). They are not currently scheduled for any Thursday TNT broadcasts.
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