3 things to watch for when Cavs 2022-23 schedule is released

3 things to watch for when Cavs schedule is released: Variable opponents

It’s time for some inside baseball – err, basketball when it comes to building an NBA schedule. There are 30 teams in the league, and each one will play a certain number of games against different groups of opponents. Let’s break it down.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are in the Eastern Conference. That means that they will play each team in the opposite Western Conference two times each, once at home and once on the road. 15 Western Conference teams times two equals 30 games, or 36.5 percent of the schedule.

The Cavaliers are also in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference, and will play each of the four other teams four times each. That would be the Milwaukee Bucks, the Chicago Bulls, the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons. That’s another 16 games accounted for.

Finally is the rest of the Eastern Conference teams. The Cavs will play each of those 10 teams either three or four times, and the final 36 games of the schedule will come from here. Six of those ten they will play four times, and the last four they will play just three.

This is where the big difference in strength of schedule comes in. If the Cavs get to play the Orlando Magic and the Washington Wizards four times each, and the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat just three times, suddenly the Cavs have a baked-in advantage regarding strength of opponent. If it’s the other way around, that becomes a disadvantage.

The NBA tries to make such things balanced out, and teams with a scheduling disadvantage of this kind tend to get the better end of the stick when it comes to travel or rest. When the schedule drops keep your eyes peeled for which four opponents the Cavs only have to play three times.