With the Lakers set to begin training camp in less than a month, I thought it would be a good time to take an in-depth look at the team’s 2012-13 schedule and rank each month’s slate of games from easiest to most difficult.
Each page will represent a different month (November-April) on the schedule and will include an analysis, game of the month, the number of home games versus road games, how many sets of back-to-back games the team will be playing and a breakdown of when and where you can see the Lakers on national television.
6. April
After spending the majority of February and March away from Los Angeles, the Lakers end the season playing six of their eight games in April at home. The two road games include a trek across the hallway to face the Clippers and a quick trip to Portland.
The Lakers being able to stay close to home through the first part of the month will hopefully allow them to better prepare for the playoffs, which begin on April 20th.
During halftime of their April 2nd game against the Dallas Mavericks, the Lakers will be having a jersey retirement ceremony for Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq ended his career with the Lakers on anything but good terms, but the ceremony is well deserved. And knowing Shaq, all of the festivities should be quite memorable.
Game of the Month – April 14th versus San Antonio: Lakers versus Spurs in the second to last game of the regular season could have playoff implications written all over it. Winning this game could be the difference in the Lakers being a one or two seed when the playoffs begin.
Or, everything could be decided by then, and Mike Brown and Gregg Popovich will decide to rest their starters.
Home Games: 6
Road Games: 2
Back-to-Backs: 1, April 9-10: vs New Orleans, @ Portland
Nationally Televised Games: 4
April 2nd vs Dallas (TNT), April 5th vs Memphis (ESPN), April 7th @Clippers (ABC), April 14th vs San Antonio (NBA TV).
Next Page: A “Gift-Wrapped” Schedule