How come on the Rockets' 3 game eastern road trip that they played New Jersey, then go to Milwaukee, and then right back to Philly on Friday. They have to go back to where they just came from and then go to Houston for the Orlando game on Sunday. I know the team's rich (should be more richer in rebounds/assists/fundamentals), but wouldn't they save energy and travel money if they were scheduled to play Philadelphia after New Jersey and then fly to Milwaukee because Philadelphia is just a hop, skip and a jump away from New Jersey and they wouldn't need a plane to go back to Philly by Friday. Just a suggestion.
Yeah and have Philladelphia 76ers play a double-header on Wednesday; March 2 Wed - Houston at Philladelpia (2:00PM) March 2 Wed - Chicago at Philladelphia (7:00PM) All times are EST. That will be gebius on NBA part.
I know about the arena thing, but the league should've figured that it'll tire out a team before not double checking the schedules before July 22nd (the date they release the schedules for the new year). Just noticed that how funny it was.
Probably. The league does try to minimize travel (hence the dreaded "Texas Triangle" of SA-Dallas-Houston), but it never works out perfectly. Every team encounters weirdness such as going to Los Angeles for the start of a road trip, then to 2-3 other cities, only to end up back in LA at the end of the trip. Figuring out the optimal (or even near-optimal) path for road trips is a very complex math problem. Add in the vagaries of arena availability, and they are lucky they do as well as they do! Incidentally, I think baseball does a somewhat better job managing city-to-city for road trips. However, their venues are typically "dark" when the primary tennant is out of town...
