From: scottb@ppc-a.isc-br.com (SCOTT BURRINGTON)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Subject: Rating Schedule Strength by Days of Rest
Date: 12 Jan 93 21:25:34 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: ISC-Bunker Ramo Corporation, Spokane, WA.

I was wondering whether any teams had a schedule advantage by
having more games versus teams who are playing the second of
a pair of back-to-back games, so I took some code from the
nba.c program and made a few tables.

This first table shows how many games each team plays against
opponents who have had 0 to 6 games rest before that contest.
For example, the number under the 2 column shows how many games
a team has where their opponent has had 2 days rest since their
last game.  The Tot. column is the total number of days of rest
that a team's opponents have had for the entire season, which
provides an index for how well rested for the season a team's
opponents are.

************ TABLE A ************

Team              0   1   2   3   4   5   6   Tot.
====================================================
LA Lakers    :   30  38  10   3   1   0   0    71
Golden State :   25  39  16   2   0   0   0    77
Indiana      :   25  42  10   4   1   0   0    78
Milwaukee    :   27  38  11   5   0   1   0    80
Denver       :   26  39  13   2   1   0   1    81
New Jersey   :   24  42  11   3   1   1   0    82
Dallas       :   22  40  18   2   0   0   0    82
Miami        :   26  38  12   4   1   1   0    83
Detroit      :   20  47  13   0   1   0   1    83
Washington   :   26  35  16   3   2   0   0    84
Utah         :   21  45  11   2   2   1   0    86
Minnesota    :   19  45  15   2   0   1   0    86
Atlanta      :   24  36  16   4   2   0   0    88
Boston       :   22  38  17   3   1   1   0    90
Phoenix      :   17  45  16   3   1   0   0    90
Charlotte    :   23  37  16   4   1   0   1    91
Sacramento   :   20  39  19   2   1   1   0    92
Seattle      :   18  45  13   4   1   1   0    92
Houston      :   17  44  15   5   1   0   0    93
Cleveland    :   20  40  16   4   0   2   0    94
Chicago      :   23  37  13   5   3   1   0    95
San Antonio  :   16  42  18   5   1   0   0    97
Philadelphia :   20  41  11   6   3   1   0    98
LA Clippers  :   21  33  20   6   2   0   0    99
New York     :   20  34  20   7   1   0   0    99
Portland     :   17  40  18   5   1   1   0   100
Orlando      :   15  42  18   3   4   0   0   103
                                          ============
                                             2394  (Avg.= 88.66)

Table A shows the Lakers having the advantage of playing
opponents who are the least rested (71 rest days), including
having a league leading 30 games against teams who played the
night before.  Orlando gets the hard luck schedule, playing
well rested opponents (103 rest days) and having only 15 games
where the opposition played the night before.

However, Table A doesn't account for how rested the primary
team is when it plays.  For example, it may not be an advantage
to play a team who played the night before if your team also
played the night before.

Table B shows how many games a team has with an advantage or
disadvantage of days of rest.  For example, the column -2 shows
how many games a team had where their opponent had 2 more days
of rest than they did.  The Tot. column adds up this number for
each game, once again giving an index of how much more rested
a team will be compared to its opponents.


************ TABLE B ************

Team            6   5   4   3   2   1   0  -1  -2  -3  -4  -5  -6   Tot.
========================================================================
LA Lakers    :  0   1   1   2   6  16  36  16   2   2   0   0   0    17
Golden State :  0   1   0   2   5  15  40  14   5   0   0   0   0    12
Indiana      :  0   0   0   1   7  15  44  10   3   2   0   0   0    10
Milwaukee    :  0   0   0   3   2  19  37  19   1   1   0   0   0     8
Denver       :  0   0   0   2   6  18  35  18   2   0   0   0   1     8
New Jersey   :  0   0   0   4   3  16  42   9   6   2   0   0   0     7
Dallas       :  1   0   0   2   1  15  45  14   3   1   0   0   0     6
Detroit      :  0   0   1   2   4  14  42  15   3   0   0   1   0     6
Miami        :  0   0   0   2   0  17  50   9   3   1   0   0   0     5
Washington   :  0   0   0   2   4  16  38  19   3   0   0   0   0     5
Minnesota    :  0   0   0   4   4   8  45  17   4   0   0   0   0     3
Utah         :  0   0   0   3   3  16  41  14   3   1   0   1   0     3
Atlanta      :  0   0   0   0   4  18  42  13   2   3   0   0   0     0
Boston       :  0   1   0   2   4  12  41  16   2   4   0   0   0    -1
Phoenix      :  0   0   0   0   7  12  43  14   5   1   0   0   0    -1
Charlotte    :  0   0   1   2   1  19  36  15   5   3   0   0   0    -3
Seattle      :  0   0   0   1   2  19  41  12   4   3   0   0   0    -3
Houston      :  0   0   0   0   1  19  45  11   4   2   0   0   0    -4
Sacramento   :  0   0   0   2   2  18  38  16   4   1   0   1   0    -4
Cleveland    :  0   0   0   0   4  14  45  14   3   1   1   0   0    -5
Chicago      :  0   0   0   2   4  14  44   8   6   2   2   0   0    -6
San Antonio  :  0   0   0   0   5  11  43  19   2   2   0   0   0    -8
Philadelphia :  0   0   0   4   3   8  41  21   1   4   0   0   0    -9
LA Clippers  :  0   0   0   1   3  19  33  18   4   4   0   0   0   -10
New York     :  0   0   1   1   3  11  43  15   5   3   0   0   0   -10
Portland     :  0   0   0   2   4  11  36  22   7   0   0   0   0   -11
Orlando      :  0   0   0   1   3  14  40  16   3   4   1   0   0   -15

I was suprised at how well the two tables matched up.  Once again
the Lakers show a higher rested index than anyone else, with Orlando
bringing up the rear.  At the extreme ends, the Denver at Dallas game
on 02/24 has Denver playing their 2nd game in two nights while Dallas
is coming off 6 days of rest.

-Scott
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro