Insider: Easiest/Tougest Starts

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NBA Power Outage:

Schedule fit for a King

By Terry Brown

Friday, November 1 Updated 10:16 AM EST

In five words or less using no more than 10 letters and two vowels in the space between these two sentences, explain why your favorite NBA team will have a better regular-season record than the Sacramento Kings this year.

Sorry. Time's up.

But don't worry. Your team never had a chance, either.

Forget about all-stars Chris Webber and Peja Stojakovic or all tourney player Mike Bibby or the bench that runs 12 deep or the most raucous homecourt this side of English soccer or the fact that the Kings had the third-most road wins in the league last year on their way to the best record in the league by three whole games.

Just look at the upcoming schedule.

In their first 18 games of the season, Sacramento plays only six opponents that qualified for the playoffs last year and all of them were eliminated in the first round. In that same amount of time, they may have 10 road games, but six of them are against teams that didn't qualify for the postseason last year. One of those away games is an off-ramp south against Golden State, another an off-ramp north in Seattle.

The Knicks, Bulls, Grizzlies and Warriors all finished dead last in their respective divisions last year. The Kings get to play all of them in November. Memphis, twice. The Suns, Cavs and Heat all finished second to last and, you guessed it, the Kings get to play them before December, too.

Last year, the Kings started 13-4 through November without Webber and never looked back, winning a franchise-best 61 games, nine more than anyone in the Eastern Conference and 40 more than the last-place team in the Western Conference.

These very same Kings have played only one game so far this season and they're already a game and a half ahead of the Lakers and a half game in front of the Spurs.

Which is as close as either may get this year.

EASIEST STARTS

1. New Orleans Hornets

Road Games: 7

Playoff Opponents: 6

Comment: They never play more than two consecutive road games, have only four back-to-back games, three of them against the likes of Miami, Atlanta and Cleveland, and play only six teams that qualified for the playoffs last season, not one of them winning more than 50 games. They may have already played their toughest game of the young season and they beat Utah (one of only four WC teams they'll meet by December) by 25 Wednesday night.

2. Boston Celtics

Road Games: 6

Playoff Opponents: 7

Comment: Their first road trip is against three teams that won a combined 88 games last year and then the Celtics have only three more road games total in the first month of play. That's eight home games in the last 11, not one of those road games closer than a week apart. They get the Knicks without Spree, the Lakers without Shaq and the Timberwolves without Terrell Brandon. And in a scheduling quark, they've got one of their four back-to-back games against the same team that missed the playoffs by nine games last season.

3. Indiana Pacers

Road Games: 5

Playoff Opponents: 8

Comment: The Pacers start the season at home, end the month of November at home, have a four-game homestand and, 18 days into the new season, will have traveled only twice. They've only got two consecutive road games but they're four days apart. They're smack dab in the middle of our country and never travel further west than Minnesota in November. By the time this is done, they may actually be looking forward to the six-game road stretch that begins Dec. 1 and reaches the Pacific Ocean.

4. Phoenix Suns

Road Games: 6

Playoff Opponents: 8

Comment: The Suns play only 15 games by December and have only three back-to-back contests, two of which are against the Nuggets and Warriors. They have fewer games on the road than any other Western Conference team and could even drive to two of them in Salt Lake and Denver. And think about it. Golden State won a league-low 14 home games last season. That's where the Suns will end the month after a four-game homestand.

5. Detroit Pistons

Road Games: 9

Playoff Opponents: 6

Comment: The Pistons have two four-game stretches in which they will face teams that did not qualify for the playoffs last year. They do have nine road games, five of them coming consecutively, but more than half of them are against, repeat after me, teams that did not qualify for the playoffs last year. Besides, the Pistons won more away games than any other Eastern Conference team last season. They also get New York twice, Miami twice and Milwaukee twice and guess who won more Eastern Conference games than any other Eastern Conference team . . .

TOUGHEST STARTS

25. Los Angeles Clippers

Road Games: 8

Playoff Opponents: 12

Comment: Of the Clippers' 17 games through November, only five of them are against teams that didn't qualify for the playoffs last year AND three of them are on the road AND they already burned a home date in losing to the Cavs Wednesday night AND another one is against Houston, a team on the verge of making the playoffs. The toughest start in the Western Conference belongs to the franchise that is traditionally eliminated by the all-star break.

26. Cleveland Cavaliers

Road Games: 11

Playoff Opponents: 11

Comment: The Cavs play a total of seven home games, six of them against teams that not only made the playoffs, but advanced in the first round. The one remaining home opponent features a player we affectionately refer to as the greatest to ever play the game. This, after they play six of their first eight games on the road but before they play the last of a league-high eight back-to-back games by December.

27. Atlanta Hawks

Road Games: 9

Playoff Opponents: 13

Comment: They start with the New Jersey Nets, hit the road for a six-game Western Conference swing, then head home to conclude a 10-game stretcher against playoff teams. Let me say this again for emphasis. Between Nov. 8 to Nov. 27, the Hawks will play 10 consecutive playoff teams, which is more than 10 of the 16 playoff teams last year in the dang playoffs, themselves.

28. Chicago Bulls

Road Games: 11

Playoff Opponents: 12

Comment:E ight of their last nine games in the month of November will be on the road, six of them against teams that made the playoffs last year, five of them in the Western Conference, two of them on back-to-back nights and one against the Los Angeles Lakers with a healed and ornery Shaquille O'Neal.

29. New York Knicks

Road Games: 5

Playoff Opponents: 13

Comment: Wednesday night, they played the defending Central Division champs. Today, they've got the the 2001 Eastern Conference champs. Saturday, the Knicks play the Eastern Conference runner-ups. In the 14 games that the Knicks will play through the month of November, their easiest game, so to speak, will be against the Milwaukee Bucks, a team that has won 93 games in the last two seasons. If 13 is an unlucky number, then what is 0-14?