A lot has been made of the NBA’s post-lockout decision to squeeze a 66-game regular season schedule into four months. For eight teams, that number is only 50.
The Pistons, Cavaliers, Nets, Wizards, Bobcats, Warriors, Kings, and Timberwolves will only play 50 games this season. The discovery was made by longtime Pistons’ season ticket holder Eddie Moskowitz, who was splitting his tickets with his friends when the discovery was made.
“We were getting ready to do rock-paper-scissors for the final Cavaliers game,” Moskowitz said from his home near Auburn Hills. “The loser was going to get stuck with it. Then we looked in the envelope and there were no tickets.”
NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said fan reaction to the shortened season has been mostly positive.
“We’re fortunate to offer a product our fans are happy to pay for and not receive,” said Silver. “They’ve told us that after working all day, rounding up people who want to go, paying for parking and concessions, and then having to watch the actual game, they’d just as soon not go.”
The teams did not discount the ticket packages to reflect the fewer games, and Silver said the plan has drawn interest from other leagues.
“We actually didn’t come up with the idea,” he said. “The Chicago Cubs have been playing at most 144 out of 162 games every year–the only difference with our plan is our players and fans don’t have to show up.”
Pistons coach Lawrence Frank said the players were on board with the plan.
“It’s bad enough to be playing with guys who aren’t very good, but it gets depressing to play against guys who aren’t good either,” Frank said during a Pistons practice. “My players get a little sensitive about the Sportscenter anchors poking fun at our 77-72 games against these teams. I think it shows the NBA cares about the players as well as the fans.”
