They will open up at home Dec. 30 against the Pistons. They get their first look at the defending champion Dallas Mavericks Jan. 11 at the TD Garden. The Celtics host the Lakers Feb. 9, then visit the Staples Center again March 11 to start a grueling stretch of eight-straight road games that essentially combines the West coast trip (Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, Kings and Nuggets) with a three-game stretch (Atlanta, Milwaukee, Philadelphia) in a matter of 13 days.
The only set of back-to-back-to back games comes when they face Toronto, New Jersey and Charlotte on the road from April 13-15. They will not play six Western Conference teams on the road this season: San Antonio, Phoenix, Utah, Portland, Houston, and Memphis.
There are 19 back-to-backs, some quirkier than others, including a Detroit to Dallas back-to-back.
While that 8 game road trip in 13 days is no peach, I'm thrilled with only one set of back-to-back-to-back games. Fortunately, the opponents for that trio of games are mediocre.
The 19 back-to-back games is 7 more than the Celtics faced over the same stretch last season.
I'm not sure how the Celtics schedule stands up against other teams, but it's not as bad as I feared.
Of the 66 games on the schedule, the Celtics will have 31 games televised nationally between ABC, ESPN, TNT and the NBA Network, reports SB Nation.
Click here for the entire schedule.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
