Breaking It Down

The old standard line of the Raptors will play 41 games at home and 41 on the road almost didn't apply. But the 2 games in London in March will both be New Jersey home games. The Raptors play a game just 3 days prior to going to England and just 4 days after. March on the whole is a terrible month for the Raptors not only the long trip across the Atlantic Ocean, but a 5 game road trip that starts in Oklahoma City and winds it way to L.A to end playing the Clippers.

The Raptors open up their 16th season at home vs the New York Knicks on October 27th. It is part of a quick 2 game home stand to kick off the season then a challenging to 4 game west coast swing. Sacramento, Utah, L.A Lakers and Portland does not look promising.

The games that you are likely to want to know the most about are the returns of both Hedo Turkoglu and Chris Bosh. February is your chance to get your BOO on if you choose. On the 16th the Miami Heat hit Toronto with Lebron, D-Wade and the former CB4. Then a couple weeks later Hedo Turkoglu will visit with Steve Nash and the Suns on 25th. The Heat will return for the final game of the regular season which is kind of a gut shot to the Raptors as the Heat should be preparing for the playoffs and likely the Raptors to pack up for another season.

As for the nuts and bolts of the schedule of schedule it features 18 back to backs. It also features an unusual 9 Saturday dates for the Raptors. Basketball Night in Canada is never usually a great thing in this country. All are road dates, and likely when T.V schedule comes out are destined to be on TSN 2 or Sportsnet 1. If you are looking for a day to live your life. Thursday is that day as the Raptors will not be playing on Thursday night. Charles Barkley and his theory of TNT being bias against Canada lives.

The Raptors could fall behind the 8 ball early given this schedule and may be challenged to ever see .500 in 2011. This looks to be a challenging year for the Raptors and the schedule maker has not exactly been all that helpful to them. Even if more changes happen it seems at this time hard to imagine that Raptors can be a playoff team.