The NBA released its second-half scheduled on Wednesday, as well as the Los Angeles Lakers have among the five hardest continuing to be slates based upon existing opponent-winning percentages.
That’s somewhat misleading, though. After playing a West-heavy routine over the first half, 18 of their 31 post-All-Star games will come against the much weaker Eastern Seminar, where essentially game in the loss column is all that divides the current 5-11 seeds.
“The NBA released its second-half schedule on Wednesday, and the Los Angeles Lakers have one of the five toughest remaining slates based on current opponent winning percentages. That’s somewhat deceiving, though. After playing a West-heavy schedule over the first half, 18 of their 31 post-All-Star games will come against the much weaker Eastern Conference, where literally one game in the loss column is all that separates the current 5-11 seeds.
Translation: A bunch of bad Eastern Conference teams spent the first half of the season balancing results by playing one another, leaving seven teams within two games of a .500 record. Those records will drop precipitously once those teams embark on the West-heavy portion of their schedule. As that happens, the strength of the Lakers’ remaining schedule on paper will start to better reflect the actual difficulty of their remaining opponents. “
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