This story appears in ESPN The Magazines October 31 NBA Preview Issue. Oakley Sunglasses 2017 . Subscribe today!ITS JAN. 28, 2011. Doc Rivers powerhouse Celtics, featuring a Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, are seven months removed from their second Finals in three years. Theyre 35 -- 10 on the season, winners of seven of their past eight, and visiting the 20 -- 24 Suns. Prediction: blowout.From the start, though, the Celtics stumble in startling fashion. Garnett throws a pass to no one, then gets tossed for striking Suns forward Channing Frye in the groin. Boston shoots a season-worst 34.2 percent against one of the NBAs worst defenses. The Suns roll 88-71.Rivers, incensed, rides out most of the game from the visiting locker room after being ejected for jawing at the officials. Watching it all unfold, he wonders, Jesus Christ, was the whole team drinking last night? But the Celtics longtime trainer, Ed Lacerte, has another theory: We should see the sleep doctor. This is the game he pointed to.The sleep doctor was Dr. Charles Czeisler, the director of the Sleep Health Institute at Brigham and Womens Hospital and of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School, whom Rivers had consulted before the season, asking him to identify trouble spots on the schedule. Czeisler noted that the Celtics would be flying into Phoenix after facing the Trail Blazers in Portland the night before -- and Cleveland in Boston two nights before that. With so much travel across so many time zones in just three days, your instincts will be bad, he said. Itll be like playing drunken basketball. You will not win this game.After the loss, Rivers realizes that Czeisler was right and that its time to start adjusting routines. He calls his Big Three into the office: Were changing, immediately.The players push back. They like their routines. This is what we do! Garnett says.Replies Rivers: Well, were not doing it anymore.EVERY SEASON, NBA teams are forced to play games that, as Rivers learned in 2011, are all but unwinnable -- not because of the opponent but because of how the schedule unfolds leading up to them. In many organizations, these games are actually referred to as scheduled losses. Says Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau: Sometimes the schedule can get you. That happens.Spurs coach Gregg Popovich circles these problem games on the schedule and prescribes the one cure for them: rest. The guys appreciate it, he says, and it makes them even more committed to the program because they know youre taking care of them and theyre not just a piece of meat that youre going to use to win and move on.Current Celtics coach Brad Stevens, who has consulted numerous sleep experts, says he has received similar advice. Its very point-blank -- like, this schedule is not great for sleep. But the bottom line is the schedule hasnt changed, its not going to change, so how do you manage it the best you can? Thats why when the schedule comes out, for me, I go through the whole thing that day and plan the whole year and think about it.And now so can you. To identify the NBA games in which its not one team against another but one team against the schedule, ESPN enlisted multiple experts, including sleep doctors who consult with NBA teams. In partnership with ESPN Stats & Information, they ranked the seasons 488 back-to-back games on several factors, such as whether the game is home or away, the time elapsed between tip-offs (including hours lost from flying east), how rested the opponent is from play or travel and whether its part of a longer run of four games in five nights, or five games in seven. The result: There are 42 games in the 2016-17 season in which the schedule creates a distinct competitive disadvantage for one team. The seven most extreme cases are identified below. Were calling them schedule alert games.Does it work? Cheri Mah, sleep consultant to NBA teams and a research fellow at the UC San Francisco Human Performance Center, helped construct the formula. Last season, using a similar formula, her system correctly picked losers with up to 78 percent accuracy. Those predictions were blind to the quality of the teams -- showing how strong the impact of back-to-back games is. The reality is, if I could craft an NBA season, Mah says, it would not have back-to-backs.TODAY, RIVERS IS keenly aware of which games are unwinnable -- so much so that hes actually considered the once-unthinkable: forfeiting. Rivers, now the Clippers coach, recalls that LA was scheduled in 2014 for back-to-back games, the second on the road, immediately following a seven-game road trip. I contemplated keeping the team home, literally, Rivers says. We knew we were walking into getting our ass kicked, and thats what happened.What is it they say? If you have less than five hours of sleep for three days in a row, your reactions are that of a legally drunk driver? Weve seen that with our own eyes.Schedule alert!Do you like to prepare mentally for your favorite NBA teams losses, even months ahead of time? Then this is for you! With the aid of sleep scientists, weve devised a formula to identify the seasons schedule alert games-those that are the most unwinnable because of the schedules travel impact and resulting fatigue issues. Heres an exhaustive look at the season.Mah Score is based on eight fatigue factors, ranges from 0 to 12, with higher scores indicating greater disadvantage.1. 11/29: Hornets (Pistons): 8.5 Mah score Leaving Memphis, the Hornets lose an hour flying home-and less than 24 hours later cap a four games-in-five-days stretch vs. the rough-and-tumble Pistons.2. 12/3: Lakers (Grizzlies): 8.5 A back-to-back for LA starting in Toronto means a late trip through customs and no rest. Even tougher: This next game is the fourth in five nights-all on the road.3. 12/6: Bulls (vs. Pistons): 9.5 Chicago, in the closest thing to certain schedule defeat, loses an hour in the air heading to Detroit -- plus the haul toward Auburn Hills, Michigan -- after playing Portland at home, to cap a four-in-five run.4. 12/11: Warriors (Timberwolves): 8.5 This is a genuine test for Golden State, its fourth road game in five nights after playing in Memphis the night before. Plus: an early 6 p.m. start vs. a young team.5. 2/4: Denver (Spurs): 8.5 After facing Milwaukee at home, Denver loses an hour heading East, only to cap a four-in-five against the Spurs, who have a one-day recovery edge.6. 3/11: Wizards (Trail Blazers): 8.5 Capping not just a four-in-five but a five-in-seven stretch, this road game comes against a Blazers team that will have a one-day rest advantage.7. 3/15: Trail Blazers (Spurs): 8.5 For Portland, this marks the third road game of a five-game trip, the fourth game in five nights, the fifth in seven ... and its against the Spurs. Ouch.Additional reporting by ESPNs Jackie MacMullan, Tom Haberstroh and Kevin Arnovitz Cheap Oakley Sunglasses Deals .Y. -- Knicks coach Mike Woodson said Wednesday that J. Buy Oakley Sunglasses Black Friday . Neymar curled home a free kick from just outside the area to put the 2014 World Cup host ahead in the 44th minute. Three minutes after the break, a simple through pass from Paulinho freed Oscar and the Chelsea star rounded goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong to extend Brazils lead. http://www.oakleydealsblackfriday.com/ . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Jerod Evans threw three touchdown passes and rushed for one to lift Virginia Tech over East Carolina 54-17 on Saturday.The Hokies (3-1) scored on their final five possessions of the first half, including all four of their second-quarter possessions, to overwhelm East Carolina (2-2) and snap a two-game losing streak to the Pirates.Evans completed 13 of 20 passes for a career-best 282 yards and rushed for a career-best 97 more. He entered the game having thrown an ACC-best 10 touchdown passes and has thrown just one interception on the season.I think hes pretty good, Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente said of Evans. Hes been judicious with the ball and hes going to the right place most of the time. Hes been pretty efficient.ECU quarterback Philip Nelson had 362 yards passing and two touchdown tosses to Jimmy Williams to pace the Pirates.We studied the film well and they had a lot of keys when they were sliding the protection, said Ken Ekanem, who had two of the Hokies six sacks. We had a lot of indicators and we knew when someone was going to be left one-on-one. We look forward to one-on-one matchups and pride ourselves on winning those. We did a good job of that today.THE TAKEAWAYEAST CAROLINA: Coming off a 20-15 loss at South Carolina and playing its third consecutive gamme against a Power 5 opponent, the Pirates looked a step slow and out of sorts from the opening kick. Official Oakley Sunglasses Sale. They went three-and-out on five first-half possessions. The Pirates hope to regroup now that they have finished the non-conference portion of their schedule.That was clearly the most talented football team that we have played, ECU coach Scottie Montgomery said. And the most physical.VIRGINIA TECH: The Hokies dominated on special teams, scoring three touchdowns as a result of those units. Greg Stroman scored on an 87-yard punt return, and Cam Phillips blocked a punt that led to an Evans touchdown pass to Travon McMillian. A sack of ECU punter Worth Gregory in the fourth quarter led to a 1-yard touchdown run by backup quarterback Brenden Motley.UP NEXTEAST CAROLINA: The Pirates open AAC play next Saturday with a home game against UCF. ECU blasted the Golden Knights 44-7 last season for their first win in Orlando since 2008.VIRGINIA TECH: The Hokies are off next week before taking on North Carolina on Oct. 8 and will be looking to avenge last years 30-27 overtime loss. 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