Blazers Have Had Toughest Schedule in the NBA So Far

Dec 2, 2022 - 6:23 PM

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The Portland Trail Blazers are falling on tough times.

After starting 9-3 on the season, the Blazers have won just two of their last 10 games, moving back to .500. While injuries have plagued the team, the team has also faced a difficult schedule, likely the hardest in the NBA.

One analytic points to the Blazers having the league’s hardest schedule to date.

According to NBA Stuffer, DARKO, aka Daily Plus-Minus or DPM, is created by Kostya Medvedovsky. DARKO (stands for “Daily Adjusted and Regressed Kalman Optimized“) is a composite predictive metric that uses box score and plus-minus stats. By blending these components in proportion to the number of total possessions of a player, recent performance is weighted more heavily to better predict future game outcomes.

And based on this statistic, the Blazers’ opponents DARKO has been higher than any team in the NBA this season.

DARKO is not a perfect stat, because according to Twitter user Krishna Narsu, it takes multi-year ratings into account. The numbers could change if the multi-year ratings weren’t taken into account. However, that wouldn’t change the fact that the Blazers have been tested heavily so far this season.

During this recent skid, the Blazers faced four games against high-profile Eastern Conference opponents, including a pair of meetings against the Brooklyn Nets.

BE community, how much do you think the Blazers’ schedule has contributed to their poor showing as of late? Chime off in the comments section below.