Friday evening the NBA released the upcoming schedule of games for the 22 teams invited to Disney World to finish the regular season. The first game for Dallas is on July 31st and the final game is two weeks later on August 13th. The games are as follows (all times are Central time)
- July 31st at 8:00 pm vs the Houston Rockets
- August 2nd at 8:00 pm vs the Phoenix Suns
- August 4th at 1:30 pm vs the Sacramento Kings
- August 6th at 5:30 pm vs the Los Angeles Clippers
- August 8th at 7:30 pm vs the Milwaukee Bucks
- August 10th at 2:00 pm vs the Utah Jazz
- August 11th at 4:00 pm vs the Portland Trail Blazers
- August 13th at a to be determined time vs the Phoenix Suns
According to Mark Followill of the Dallas broadcast, all games will be available on local television even if the games are also broadcast nationally.
Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer says that the Mavericks have five games which will also be broadcast on ABC, ESPN, or TNT and one game on NBAtv. That means all but two games will be available nationwide. Whether or not the NBA/Turner sports will put out a League Pass-like product for all games is unclear as of this moment.
Brad Townsend had this gem on strength of schedule:
Mavs' strength of schedule vs. the 2 West teams they trail by 1.5 games:
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) June 26, 2020
Mavs opponents: 287-230 (.555)
Rockets opponents: 304-214 (.586)
Thunder opponents: 303-220 (.579)
Final standings will be determined by winning percentage, so every game matters for the Dallas Mavericks. Though 1.5 games is quite a bit of ground to make up in eight games, ESPN’s Kevin Pelton has mentioned repeatedly that in his projections the Mavericks improved their standing in half of his simulations.
We’ll have more analysis on the upcoming games and situation in Orlando in the days and weeks to come.