Rockets release schedule for first half of 2020-21 regular season

Ben DuBose
·4 min read

The Houston Rockets on Friday released the team’s schedule for the first 36 games of the upcoming 2020-21 NBA season, beginning with a Dec. 23 home opener and running until March 3.

Because of this season’s delayed start, the 2020-21 season will have 72 games, rather than the usual 82. The NBA is only releasing the schedule one half at a time, since it’s possible that game postponements due to COVID-19 will force games to be made up at later dates.

The Rockets will host games at their usual home arena of Toyota Center and with some fans, albeit at a limited capacity due to the pandemic. Should vaccines be widely distributed or treatments improve, it’s possible that capacity levels could increase later in the season.

The regular season starts at home for the Rockets on Wednesday, Dec. 23, when the rebuilding Oklahoma City Thunder visit Houston. In all, seven of the first 10 games of Houston’s regular season are at home.

As far as national television appearances over the initial 36 games, the Rockets will have three games shown on TNT; four on ESPN; and seven on NBA TV. Most games will be broadcast on local television partner AT&T SportsNet Southwest, except for four games (Jan. 28, Feb. 9, Feb. 11, and March 3) that are national TV exclusives.

On paper, the early schedule looks somewhat favorable for James Harden and the new-look Rockets. Outside of one early two-game road trip to Portland and Denver in late December, the Rockets don’t travel west of San Antonio for the entire first half of the season.

Unlike most years, the 2020-21 regular-season schedule often features consecutive games against the same opponent, similar to the series format in Major League Baseball (MLB). The NBA is adopting that formula for the time being to reduce travel risks associated with the pandemic.

As far as potential contenders, the Rockets don’t play the Los Angeles Clippers, Utah Jazz, Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, or Boston Celtics a single time in the season’s first half. On the other hand, this means that numerous matchups with those teams will come in the second half of the schedule. They do have consecutive games in early January versus the defending NBA champion Lakers, but both are in Houston.

Houston has five back-to-back games in the schedule’s first half, which is tied for the fewest in the NBA. However, that’s likely to be offset to some degree in the second half, which is slated to start March 11.

Over the full 72 games, the NBA’s revised scheduling formula calls for Houston to play each Western Conference team three times (two home, one road, or vice versa), and each East team twice (one home, one road). Within opponents in the West, where the Rockets finished No. 4 last season, Houston will play each Pacific Division team twice at home and once on the road. Meanwhile, they will face each Northwest Division team twice on the road and once at Toyota Center. Within the five-team Southwest Division, the NBA randomly assigned two opponents to be played twice at home, as well as two to be played twice on the road.

The Rockets will play four preseason games prior to the Dec. 23 opener, with exhibition play starting next Friday, Dec. 11, in Chicago.

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