TORONTO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) — The Toronto Raptors defeated the Timberwolves 97-87 here Monday in the first of three games in as many days, the first time this feat will occur since the 1998-1999 shortened season.
In the 98-99 season, the season was shortened to 50 games following a 205-day lockout. Thirteen years later, the NBA faced a similar situation when the NBA owners and NBA players association failed ratify a new collective bargaining agreement.
The disagreement was finally resolved on December 8 but the consequences were severe. A 161-day lockout, two months of preseason and regular season games canceled meant that the schedule needed to be revised.
The normal schedule of eight preseason games and 82 regular season games were condensed to two and 66 games respectively. The season opener occurred on Christmas day and the season finale would occur in late April, the same end date as the 82-game season.
The result of this new schedule was the inclusion of “triples” or back-to-back-to-back games which had not occurred since the 1998-99 season. In total, the league’s 30 teams will each play at least one set of triples and 42 in total.
Additionally, several teams including the Raptors will play a franchise record number of games in a month. For the Raptors, they will play a total of 19 games in the month of January, including seven games in nine days from January 6 through January 14. The Los Angeles Clippers play the most overall with 20 games in the month of March.
To accommodate the tiring schedule, the NBA has implemented a new rule for this season allowing teams to dress 13 players per game, one more than the 12 allowed in past seasons.
For the first two months of the season, teams will be allowed to dress and play up to 13 players per game. After February 6, teams are able to dress 13 players but only 12 will be allowed to play.
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