When the Miami Heat played the Hawks at Philips Arena early this month, Heat stars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were sidelined by injuries. And when the Hawks played Charlotte here last week, four of Atlanta's top eight players were out of action.
Such is post-lockout life in the NBA, where sprains and strains seem more common and a compressed schedule means less time between games for players to heal.
That can mean disappointment for fans who buy tickets with the hope of seeing a particular player in action.
While injuries are a big part of any NBA season, a compacted schedule increases the number of games lost to aches and pains that ordinarily might be nursed on days off. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram counted 19 key players around the league losing time to injuries in the first two weeks of the season.
When the lockout ended, the NBA squeezed a 66-game schedule into four months, late December until late April. Normally, an 82-game schedule is stretched over 5 ½ months.
While the difference amounts to two more games per month, back-to-back-to-back sets have become a reality and more than one day between games a rarity. In fact, the Hawks haven't had more than one day between games yet this season -- and won't until Feb. 16-17. Monday's 4 p.m. game against Toronto at Philips Arena will be the Hawks' 14th in three weeks.
"It's an extremely aggressive schedule," Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. said.
(The Hawks' most severe injury is center Al Horford's torn pectoral muscle, which will sideline him for three to four months. Horford called it a fluke injury unrelated to the lockout or shortened training camp.)
It's no mystery why the NBA packed the schedule when the lockout ended.
"From a business perspective, it is necessary to optimize the number of games played so that the season is legitimate and the interests of media partners and corporate sponsors [met]," said David Carter, executive director of the Sports Business Institute at the University of Southern California.
"The league needs those games to recoup as much lost revenue as possible," said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon.
That a particular player might miss a given game with injury is a risk inherent in ticket buying in any sport, any season. Hawks president Bob Williams said the sampling size is too small to conclude the risk is increased in this NBA season. But so far it seems that way.
The Hawks know fans were disappointed when James and Wade did not play because of a sprained ankle and a bruised foot.
"When two of the biggest stars in the league don't play, it's probably exponentially more frustrating for people," Williams said. "The same would be true if the Packers came to play the Falcons and Aaron Rodgers and Donald Driver were injured. That's just part of sports."
It might bother "fringe fans who come to see the big stars," said veteran Atlanta sports marketing executive Bob Hope. But most understand, he said.
"I went to the Hawks-Miami game when LeBron and D-Wade didn't play," Hope said. "But it was still Miami, still the NBA, still counted. I think 80 percent of fans are there because they are NBA fans and 20 percent might be there hoping to see so-and-so play."
Hope said he heard some of the latter group "grousing" when Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose was held to eight points in a Jan. 7 loss to the Hawks here. Rose left the game for good with 2 ½ minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Injuries aren't the only issue with the compressed schedule; it's harder to sell tickets to four games in a week than to three.
"Having games closer together is one of the biggest [sales] challenges; it makes it more difficult to sell individual game tickets," Williams said. The packed schedule has prompted the Hawks to offer "more value-driven promotions," such as family nights, he said.
Although the condensed schedule is a product of circumstance, not everyone is convinced it is necessarily a negative.
"The real question/dilemma is whether fans and players would grow to like the compressed schedule," Swangard said by e-mail. "Is a less-is-more strategy worth discussing? Lots of media dollar issues at work here, but I think the idea is intriguing."
