Today the NBA finally dropped the second half of the schedule, which takes us out of the All Star Game and into the playoffs.

It’s a really dumb schedule overall. Too many games, not enough time for rest and recovery. That extends to every team, not just the Sixers, but it’s gonna be a pretty rough run to the finish line considering the slate.

Behold:

  • March 11th – at Bulls
  • March 12th – at Wizards
  • March 14th – vs. Spurs
  • March 16th – vs. Knicks
  • March 17th – vs. Bucks
  • March 20th – vs. Kings
  • March 21st – at Knicks
  • March 23rd – at Warriors
  • March 25th – at Lakers
  • March 27th – at Clippers
  • March 30th – at Nuggets
  • April 1st – at Cavaliers
  • April 3rd – vs. Timberwolves
  • April 4th – vs. Grizzlies
  • April 6th – at Celtics
  • April 9th – at Pelicans
  • April 10th – at Thunder
  • April 12th – at Mavericks
  • April 14th – vs. Nets
  • April 16th – vs. Clippers
  • April 19th – vs. Warriors
  • April 21st – vs. Suns
  • April 22nd – at Bucks
  • April 24th – at Bucks
  • April 26th – vs Thunder
  • April 28th – vs. Hawks
  • April 30th – vs. Hawks
  • May 2nd – at Spurs
  • May 3rd – at Bulls
  • May 5th – at Rockets
  • May 7th – vs. Pelicans
  • May 8th – vs. Pistons
  • May 11th – at Pacers
  • May 13th – at Heat
  • May 14th – vs. Magic
  • May 16th – vs. Magic

36 games in 67 days amounts to one game every 1.86 days. They have to play eight back-to-backs in that time frame, including a road/road back-to-back coming out of the All-Star break. There’s a six-game road trip that starts in New York, goes to the west coast, and then concludes in Cleveland. Throw in a really tough stretch against the Nets, Clippers, Warriors, Suns, Bucks, and Bucks, and it’s not exactly ideal.

They’re gonna have to rest Joel Embiid and prepare to “land the plane” in time for the playoffs, as Brett Brown used to say. I know the NBA is kind of stuck because of the COVID situation, and can’t play as late as they did last season, because you have to get back on track as we exit the pandemic, but these players are gonna be dead carrying this workload into the spring. It just feels like too many games and not enough regeneration time, and then the NBA will groan and complain when superstars are sitting instead of playing.

You make the bed, you gotta sleep in it, and the NBA made a dumb bed.