Players face hectic second-half finish

The second half of the NBA schedule will be hectic, all the way to the end.

The league on Wednesday released the list of games that will be played between March 10 and May 16, with Memphis and San Antonio — two of the teams that dealt with long unplanned shutdowns because of COVID-19 issues — set to play 40 times apiece, tied for the most in the league during the 68-day sprint to the end of the regular season.

And every team is scheduled to play on the final day of the regular season, a rarity. The 15 games on May 16 will mark the first time that every NBA team plays on the same day since Nov. 25, 2016 — and the first time all have done so on the final day of the regular season since April 16, 2014.

The season reopens following the All-star break on March 10 when Washington visits Memphis and San Antonio goes to Dallas. Most of the league resumes on March 11, with 21 teams playing their second-half openers that night, and the remaining five get back to game action on March 12.

The Cavaliers, Lakers and Jazz, all of whom end their first-half schedules on March 3, get the longest All-star breaks in the league at nine days apiece. Washington, Memphis and San Antonio get the shortest breaks, all six days.

Teams will finish the season averaging about 15 backto-backs, about three more per team than was the case last season but still well below the norm before the league made player rest a scheduling priority and changed its methods three years ago.

A few other things to note on the schedule:

Big Monday: The NBA tries not to schedule games on the night of the NCAA men’s basketball championship game, but squeezing so many games into a short window made an unplanned night off impossible this season. There are seven games on the schedule for April 5, the night some team will cut down nets in Indianapolis.

Loaded slate: May 16 could mark the first time all 30 NBA teams and all 30 Major League Baseball teams play on the same day.

Least and most: The Clippers have the fewest games in the second half, 34. The Spurs and Grizzlies are scheduled to play 40 games. Every other team is between 35 and 38 contests.

Play-in dates: The play-in tournament begins May 18 and the playoffs officially open May 22. For the play-in tournament, the NBA has set up six games, all of which will result in either a playoff berth or elimination.

The teams with the seventhand eighth-highest winning percentages in each conference will each have two opportunities to win one game to earn a playoff spot. The teams finishing ninth and 10th in each conference will have to win twice to make the postseason.

The No. 7 team will play host to the No. 8 team, with the winner earning the No. 7 playoff seed. The No. 9 seed will host the No. 10 seed, and the winner of that game will then travel to the loser of the 7-8 game for a onegame playoff to decide the No. 8 playoff seed.