Read Part One: https://on.nba.com/2Ov4FaR
Read Part Two: https://on.nba.com/2MFJwtT
The 2018-19 NBA schedule has officially been released and already there are plenty of notable observations about how things unfolded for the Charlotte Hornets. In honor of the organization’s 30th anniversary celebrations, read through Part 3 of our 30 thoughts on the team’s upcoming 82 regular season games, including comparisons to last year’s slate of contests as well.
- After a home-heavy November and December, Charlotte will play 26 of its 44 games between Jan. 5 – April 9, 2019 on the road. The Hornets endured a similarly back-loaded away schedule last season, going 12-13 on the road over its final 46 outings from Jan. 2 – April 10, 2018.
- Charlotte went 14-16 against Western Conference foes last season, posting 7-8 records at home and on the road. The team is scheduled to play just two games against Western Conference teams in its first 21 contests, both of which are against Oklahoma City.
- The Hornets will have a league-high-tying 15 back-to-backs this season, one more than last year (13.3 is the league average in 2018-19). Charlotte went 7-7 in the first game of back-to-backs last campaign and 5-9 in the second game.
- Of these 15 back-to-backs, four will be entirely on the road with three of those featuring all Western Conference opponents. There were just two occurrences of the Hornets playing two road games over a span of two days last season.
- There are 18 three-games-in-four-nights stretches on the 2018-19 schedule, which is a significant bump up from the 13 the Hornets had last season.
- Lots of time off didn’t help the Hornets last season as they went just 1-4 in games after three-or-more full days of rest. This year, the team has four games following three-plus days off, two of which are against the Washington Wizards.
- The Hornets posted an 8-4 record (5-0 at home) on Mondays last season, their highest winning percentage on any day of the week (66.6 percent). They will have 10 Monday games this season, five of which will be at Spectrum Center.
- The team’s worst days of the week last season were Saturday (4-8) and Sunday (3-6), both of which had winning percentages of just 33.3 percent. The Hornets will play 14 Saturday games (7 home, 7 away), and 12 Sunday games (2 home, 10 away) this season.
- Last season’s Southeast Divisional schedule was fairly backloaded for the Hornets with 10-of-16 such contests taking place after Jan. 16. This year’s version is more evenly distributed with eight said matchups falling from October-December and the other eight taking place from February-April.
- Charlotte went 11-5 in the division last season, with all but one of those losses coming against Miami. The Hornets, who play the Heat twice in their first eight games this year, lost to Miami by an average of just 4.0 points per meeting last season.