Schedule presents breaks for 49ers
Not hardest start to ease in Lance, plus smooth end
A less than daunting opening for their new 22-year-old starting quarterback, a well-placed midseason bye and an end-ofseason stretch that includes little travel and three straight home games?
At the very least, the San Francisco 49ers should send the NFL schedule makers a gift card for their work this spring.
The NFL on Thursday announced the 2022 schedule — a much-hyped and anticipated event that underscores the league’s popularity — and the 49ers were given an excellent map to navigate what could be a rugged road.
For starters, the 49ers, who have the league’s fifth-hardest strength of schedule based on their 2022 opponents’ records from last season, will open the season with two games against teams in transition while QB Trey Lance begins what is expected to be his first year as a starter.
In Week 1, they will visit Chicago, which went 6-11 last year and has a rookie head coach, Matt Eberflus. In Week 2, they will host the rebuilding Seahawks, who went 7-10 in 2021 and will visit the Bay Area without longtime 49ers nemesis Russell Wilson as their starting QB for the first time since 2011.
The 49ers will play four of their first six games on the road, a stretch that includes a visit to Denver in Week 3 and back-to-back games at Carolina and Atlanta in Week 5 and 6. However, they will end the season with a 12-week span that features a Week 9 bye, just one game outside the Pacific time zone — a Nov. 21 game against Arizona in Mexico City — and a stretch from Weeks 12 through 14 that has home games against New Orleans, Miami and Tampa Bay.
The 49ers also will appreciate not being among the six teams that play on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day, and their fans will appreciate the destination for their New Year’s Day game: Las Vegas.
The 49ers won’t be under the lights in Las Vegas — they will meet the Raiders on a Sunday afternoon — but they will have plenty of prime-time exposure.
They are among 12 teams that will have a maximum of five prime-time games. That includes back to-back night games, in Weeks 3 and 4, that will feature their reunion with Wilson, now with the Broncos, and the rematch of last season’s NFC Championship Game:
Jimmy Butler knocked Joel Embiid out of the playoffs, then walked over to his former 76ers teammate for a hug and a message.
“‘I’m proud of him. I love him,’” Butler said he told Embiid. “Yes, yes, yes, I still wish I was on his team. I do love the Miami Heat though. I’m glad that I’m here.”
With another trip to the conference finals ahead, the Heat are happy to have him.
Butler scored 32 points and waved “bye bye” to the Philly crowd as he sent Miami into the Eastern Conference finals with a 99-90 victory over Philadelphia on Thursday night in Game 6.
The Heat will play the winner of the Milwaukee-Boston series. The defending champion Bucks lead that series 3-2, with Game 6 on Friday night in Milwaukee.
The Heat reached the conference finals for the second time in three seasons, again with Butler leading the charge. Philly fans — and many inside the 76ers organization — still can’t believe the franchise let Butler get away after the 2019 season. He did not mess around and scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the third quarter when the Heat used a 16-2 run to take control. Butler scored 33 points in Game 3 and 40 in Game 4.
“I think he’s one of the ultimate competitors in this profession,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He was brilliant all series long. The challenges only get tougher here. He saw there was an opportunity to end this tonight and he wasn’t going to let this get to seven.”
Embiid, the NBA scoring champion, scored 20 points on 7-of-24 shooting.
Coming off a 35-point victory in Game 5, the Heat wore down a battered Sixers team. Embiid looked gassed as he gamely tried to carry the Sixers. He had little lift and had a pull-up jumper blocked by Bam Adebayo in the third.
The Sixers parted with Butler in large part because they chose Ben Simmons over him. Simmons was unhappy and forced a trade this season to Brooklyn for James Harden. Harden, a three-time scoring champion, was supposed to shoulder the load with Embiid for a potent postseason push. Harden instead all but disappeared in the playoffs. He had a fantastic Game 4 at home against Miami but otherwise was a turnover machine.
“We tried to go for it right away,” Harden said. “We just came up a little short.“
Harden scored all of his 11 points in the first half. He had four turnovers and four baskets. Harden, who has a $47.4 million player option for 202223, missed both shots in the second half and scored his last basket at the 3:31 mark of the second quarter.
Few in Philly would give The Beard a passing grade. Harden said he would return next season.
Coach Doc Rivers implored his team to “fight for this!” in the huddle during the fourth. The 76ers just fell flat.
“I came to the conclusion at the end of this game that we were not good enough to beat Miami,” Rivers said.
Grizzlies exec honored:
Memphis Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman was named the NBA basketball executive of the year, the youngest ever to win the award. Kleiman, 33, became general manager and executive vice president of basketball operations in April 2019.