Sked Does The Raptors No Favours.

The NBA Schedule is out and Raptors will open it up against Canadian Tristan Thompson. Chris Bosh makes his lone appearance with his Heat Buddies in Toronto on March 30th. Raptors new home opener is now against the Pacers on the 28th of December. Raptor face 17 of their first 26 games on the road and will have little time off while doing it. This does not bode well for a team trying to learn a new system with a new coach in charge. If the Raptors have any hope at the playoffs things are a little brighter in February with a 7 game homestand. Here the link to the schedule on NBA.Com. Also here is the official press release from the Raptors on the announcement of the schedule.


The Toronto Raptors announced Tuesday a revised 2011-12 regular season schedule featuring 66 games from December 26 to April 26. The club will tip-off its 17 season in the National Basketball Association at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Monday, December 26. The team’s home debut at Air Canada Centre will be Wednesday, December 28 at 6 p.m. versus the Indiana Pacers. Raptors season seats are available by calling (416) 366-DUNK (3865), while single-game ticket information will be released at a later date. The Raptors will launch a special "72 Hour" Tip-Off Pack with sales starting Wednesday at noon. Fans can call (416) 366-DUNK (3865) or visit www.raptors.com for more information. The Raptors will face 17 of their first 26 games on the road (December 26 – February 6). After that stretch, Toronto will play 12 of 15 games on its home floor (February 8 – March 7) with only a two-game set at Houston and New Orleans and a single game at Detroit being played away from Air Canada Centre. The schedule features 19 games in 31 days in January, with the 19 contests being an all-time franchise high for a month. Twelve of the 19 January outings will be on the road, including a stretch of eight of nine games from January 14-29. January also consists of the team’s lone back-to-back-to-back set with games January 9 versus Minnesota, January 10 at Washington and January 11 versus Sacramento. The Raptors will play five games in six days, January 9-14. The longest road swing is five games which occurs twice: January 22-29 and March 13-20. The longest home stand of the season is seven games February 8-22, which equals the club record set from November 30 – December 14 in the 1999-2000 campaign. Noteworthy games on the 2011-12 schedule include the lone home matinee contest of the season when the Los Angeles Lakers make their only visit to Toronto on Sunday, February 12. The Raptors will play host to the defending Eastern Conference Champion Miami Heat only once at Air Canada Centre on Friday, March 30. The Raptors will face the New York Knicks on February 14 and March 23 and the Boston Celtics on February 10 and April 13. Toronto will play its eighth season in the Atlantic Division, joining Boston, New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia. The Raptors were a member of the Central Division from 1995-2004. The schedule features 48 games within the conference: four games (two home, two away), against six teams (Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, New Jersey, New York, Washington); three games (two home, one away) against four teams (Charlotte, Indiana, Milwaukee, Orlando); and three games (one home, two away) against four teams (Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Philadelphia).Non-conference games include: two games (one home, one away) against three teams (Denver, Houston, Memphis); one home game against six teams (Golden State, L.A. Lakers, Minnesota, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio); and one road game against six teams (Dallas, L.A. Clippers, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Utah). The busiest day for the Raptors this season will be Wednesday with 17 games on the schedule. Friday tops the home schedule with 11 games at Air Canada Centre, while Sunday and Wednesday feature a high of seven road contests. The majority of the team’s home games will fall on Wednesday (10) and Friday (11), with the combined 21 games accounting for more than half of the 33 home dates. The Raptors’ busiest month is January with 19 games followed by March with 17 contests. The busiest home month is March with 10 games, while the busiest road month is January with 12 games away from Toronto. The Raptors will have 20 back-to-back outings in 66 games, which is up two from last season’s total spread over 82 games. A high of eight contests will be a road game followed by a road game. The Raptors’ 2011-12 television schedule will be released at a later date. For the sixth consecutive season, all Raptors games will be aired nationally in Canada.

Given the schedule and the roster the Raptors would be hard pressed to match the 22 wins of last season in this shorter 66 game schedule. It looks like the schedule maker did the Raptors no favours. But the Raptors youth should serve them well. It will have to if they are to have any hope of surviving this NBA Schedule.