You might not be able to tell it from the Timberwolves' current busy stretch, but interim head coach Sam Mitchell looks at his team's schedule this season and sees a difference.
He sees evidence of NBA commissioner Adam Silver's pledge to improve the game by improving each team's schedule by reducing physical demands on players. That means an attempt this season to schedule fewer back-to-back games and fewer times when a team will play four games in five days.
"That's something we talked about at the coaches' meeting," Mitchell said about the annual gathering of coaches in Chicago before every season, "because it's about the health of our players and what's best for our game."
The Wolves played four games in five nights ending Friday at Indiana and on Wednesday in Orlando will complete a stretch where they play seven games in 10 nights.
That's the exception this season, though, not the rule. Or at least less than it has been in recent seasons. Seeking to lessen player fatigue and injuries and ensure the NBA's star players participate in as many regular season games as possible, Silver pushed to modify schedules without lengthening the season, a possibility he has left open for coming seasons by a week.
"It's a math formula at the end of the day in terms of the number of days in the season and the number of games we play," Silver told reporters earlier this year.
At the time, Silver acknowledged too many games in too short a time will never be eliminated, but he hoped the league could make "tremendous progress."
This season, the Wolves play 14 sets of back-to-back games after doing so 19 times last season.