NBA Schedule 2012: Breaking Down the L.A. Lakers' Shortened Schedule

The 66-game NBA schedule was released on Tuesday. Just about everyone, from coaches to players, is already short of breath after just one glance at what lies ahead.

The lockout has truncated this year's NBA season by about six weeks, but the league is intent on getting its money's worth in revenue from its on-court product.

As a result, teams are about to enter a basketball whirlwind the likes of which have never been seen in the NBA.

Beginning Christmas Day, each team will play 66 games in 126 days, or once every 1.9 days, All-Star break included.

No team is excited about that frenetic pace, but some will be clearly have an advantage relative to their competitors. A crowded, shorter season most definitely helps young, resilient squads while exhausting the more grizzled and aged teams.

The Los Angeles Lakers are counted among the teams that must coalesce quickly and get into tip-top shape, because the rate of games will not favor the aging roster. 

This unique season provides some pockets where Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and co. can ease off the gas pedal, while demanding 100 percent attention at several other times. How well they navigate each portion of their schedule will tell us a lot about how this team will respond to an abbreviated and hurried playoff slate.

Here is an in-depth breakdown of the most notable sections of the Lakers' 2011-2012 schedule.

The "Jump in with Both Feet" Portion

December 25 vs. Chicago Bulls

December 26 at Sacramento Kings

December 27 vs. Utah Jazz

December 29 vs. New York Knicks

December 31 vs. Denver Nuggets

January 1 at Denver Nuggets

For those counting at home, that's six games in the season's first eight days, including the infamous, lockout-induced back-to-back-to-back to open the season. Fortunately for the Lake Show, this is their lone set of that variety.

This stretch of games will be an instant indicator of how focused the Lakers are and how well they prepared during the rushed training camp and preseason. They'll face off against the likes of Derrick Rose, Al Jefferson, Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire and whichever Nuggets escape China in the next three weeks.

It is incumbent on the Lakers to get a good jump on this furious season, as they will get no reprieve in the form of rest.

This rigor of this slice of the schedule might seem extreme and rare, but it's actually a representative sample of the NBA calendar at large.

Projected record: 3-3

The "Murderer's Row" Portion

January 16 vs. Dallas Mavericks

January 19 at Miami Heat

January 20 at Orlando Magic

This partition of the schedule is one of the more grueling three-game stretches that any team will play at any point in 2012.

Assuming that Dwight Howard isn't in a Laker uniform by the time L.A. arrives in South Florida, this will be the most star-studded competition the Lakers will face all season.

First, a shot at revenge against the Mavs at home. Dallas embarrassed the Lakers by sweeping them in the second round of the playoffs en route to the franchise's first championship. Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and the rest of the Mavs will return equally hungry to reassert their dominion as the West's best, proving that last season was no farce.

Ready or not, the Lakers must fly cross-country with two days' rest to face the Miami Heat. They should have the luxury of rest, having a home game two nights before the Lakers arrive and having the following night off. The Heat can attack relentlessly with fresher legs and with the knowledge that the Lakers have another tough game the next night.

Projected record: 1-2 

The "Don't Screw Up" Portion

January 22 vs. Indiana Pacers

January 25 vs. Los Angeles Clippers

January 28 at Milwaukee Bucks

January 29 at Minnesota Timberwolves

January 31 vs. Charlotte Bobcats

The All-Star on the left, the rising cornerstone of the cross-court Clippers, is the only deterrent to a potentially undefeated stretch for the Lakers. 

The Lakers actually get a minute to catch their breath immediately after the Murderer's Row.

They return to a visit from the Pacers, who, though likely improved, are eminently beatable. 

Then they get two nights off, which will only happen eight times this season, before flying to Milwaukee to square off with the hapless Bucks.

Back-to-back roadies are the bane of every NBA player. They'd never admit it, but a lot of teams are somewhat resigned to losing the second leg, especially after a grueling first night. However, when your second night comes in Minnesota, you have an advantage that most teams will not have in a lockout-shortened year.

Make no mistake: The luck of having back-to-back road games against the Bucks and Wolves is a huge advantage for the Lakers.

Off a revitalizing sweep of that back-to-back, the Lakers return home to face another patsy, the Charlotte Bobcats. The comfort of sleeping in their own beds for a night should keep the Laker potential for a trap game against Charlotte at bay.

Projected record: 5-0

The "Don't Sleep on Us" Portion

January 22 vs. Indiana Pacers

January 25 vs. Los Angeles Clippers

January 28 at Milwaukee Bucks

A selection of the "Don't Screw Up" portion, this three-game set of opponents represents a who's who of potential movers up the NBA food chain in 2011-2012.

The Pacers, under then-interim coach Frank Vogel, really hit their stride after Jim O'Brien was let go, turning a 17-27 start into a 20-18 finish and a playoff berth. Vogel's impact was noticeably and immediately positive, and a young, talented roster with lots of cap space has the potential to take a big step forward this year.

This is the kind of game that the Lakers characteristically lose: home off a taxing road trip, weary and disinterested in lower competition.

They'd do their best to avoid that pattern in this game, because the Pacers play an up-and-down style that the Lakers will find intolerable.

The Clippers aren't quite established but certainly are not under anyone's radar after last year's brimming potential. The Clippers and Lakers usually bring the level of play to a happy medium when they meet, so an improved Clipper team is always apt to spring an upset on its privileged older brother.

I might have thrown in this Bucks game as a devil's advocate pick. The Bucks are likely to be a middling East playoff team that is only capable of winning if the Lakers beat themselves.

Then again, they have a lot of pieces and a group that has been really, really good when healthy. With Andrew Bogut in the lineup, this nondescript team is capable of sneaking up on and beating any team in the NBA.

Projected record: 2-1

The "Letdown" Portion

February 12 at Toronto Raptors

February 14 vs. Atlanta Hawks

February 17 vs. Phoenix Suns

February 19 at Phoenix Suns

February 20 vs. Portland Trail Blazers

One could easily argue that the "Don't Screw Up" portion is a better candidate for the letdown than the selection above, but this group of games is bookended by some stiff competition.

On the front end is a back-to-back in Boston against the Celtics and in New York at the Garden. That pair will certainly test the Lakers' mettle just prior to the season's midpoint.

The Lakers finish the road trip in Toronto, a sure-fire win, before flying across two time zones to host Atlanta. That game against the Hawks is a microcosm of this entire stretch, because the Lakers will have one night off after a season-high six-game trip taking them gradually further east. 

The Lakers should handle the Hawks but might be running on fumes like never before to this point in the season.

A home-and-home with the Suns after two nights off should be no problem for LA, as is a home date with Portland.

If the Lakers find themselves in crowded standings, this stretch should allow them to separate from the pack a little bit.

Projected record: 4-1

The "Sleepwalk" Portion

March 6 at Detroit Pistons

March 7 at Washington Wizards

March 9 at Minnesota Timberwolves

The Lakers could sleepwalk through these contests and wake up with three more wins than they had when they fell asleep.

New coach Mike Brown and Dr. Buss might find themselves laughing through this week of the schedule, given the quality of opponents the Lakers will face.

The Lakers are gift-wrapped a mini road trip to three of the worst teams in the league. It's never easy to win a road game in the NBA, I guess, but if you were to pick any three teams to play on the road, it might well be this exact trio.

While not the most difficult of weeks, it is imperative that the Lakers sweep this set if they want to see the top half of the West seeding.

Mistakes are magnified when the season comprises fewer games, and anything less than an unbeaten road trip will be a mistake that the Lakers regret.

Projected record: 3-0

The "Spur" Portion

April 11 at San Antonio

April 17 vs. San Antonio

April 20 at San Antonio

The NBA schedule, ever a bastion of efficiency and travel logic, has the Lakers and Spurs meeting zero times in the season's first 58 games and three times in the next six.

As seen above, these perennial West powers will clash three times in nine days, with the Lakers visiting San Antonio two times in about a week's time, with the Spurs coming to L.A. in the meantime.

After that April 17 meeting at Staples Center, the Spurs will barely get home in time to give the visiting Lakers a proper welcome to the AT&T Center on April 20. 

Schedule/travel hijinks aside, this triplet of games should be enjoyable for viewers (two of the three games will be televised nationally) and vital for the teams. The West standings will likely have only some semblance of last year's, but these two teams are sure to be clawing for position near the top, as they did last year.

Everyone is signaling the end of the Spurs in concurrence with the end of the Tim Duncan era in light of the historic upset the Memphis Grizzlies pulled on the top-seeded Spurs in the first round of last year's playoffs.

However, far be it from us to tell Duncan and his employ when they are supposed to step aside. The greatest power forward of all time and one of the NBA's greatest champions should have earned a little more respect than that by this point.

Until we see the Spurs face up on the canvas, bleeding from every facial opening and nursing only a faint pulse, there's no warrant for counting them out of title contention.

At its highest potential, this late-season series is a heavyweight bout with both fighters trading nasty blows and doing everything necessary to win the fight.

At worst, it's two high seeds getting last-second, high-intensity tune-ups for the real season.

Projected record: 1-2

The "Proving Ground" Portion

April 4 at Los Angeles Clippers

April 6 vs. Houston Rockets

April 7 at Phoenix Suns

April 9 at New Orleans Hornets

April 11 at San Antonio Spurs

April 13 vs. Denver Nuggets

April 15 vs. Dallas Mavericks

April 17 vs. San Antonio Spurs

April 18 at Golden State Warriors

April 20 at San Antonio Spurs

April 22 vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

April 26 at Sacramento Kings

From the April 4 game against the Clippers through the season finale in Sacramento, the Lakers traverse a 12-game stretch exclusively against Western Conference foes.  

Matchups against the Suns, Warriors, Rockets and Kings keep this from qualifying as Murderer's Row 2.0, but the stretch will still be challenging, considering that these teams will undoubtedly be jockeying for playoff position.

Dates with the Spurs, Mavs, Thunder and Hornets are sure to have significant implications in the standings, meaning that the Lakers will not have the luxury of coasting to the finish line in preparation for the playoffs.

Projected record: 8-4