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This story appears in ESPN The Magazines October 31 NBA Preview Issue. 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 New Balance Canada Discount .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. New Balance Sale Canada . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. http://www.newbalancesalecanada.com/ . 10 VCU 85-67 on Thursday night at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The Seminoles (4-0) have scored at least 80 points in each of their games. New Balance Online Sale Canada . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss. New Balance Canada Sale . -- Yogi Ferrell orchestrates pretty much everything in Indianas offence. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Nico Hernandez had a gnarly gash over his left eye that left him bloodied, with blurred vision and in need of stitches.He has a better look in mind for Sunday.Hernandez will leave the Rio Games with a bronze medal in the light flyweight division, ending a medal drought for the U.S. that stretched to 2008. Hes also the first American light flyweight to medal since Michael Carbajal won silver in 1988.Hernandezs chance for a gold medal ended Friday when he lost to Uzbekistans Hasanboy Dusmatov by unanimous decision. Hell stay through Sundays final and will then be decorated in bronze on the medal stand.We said when we get there, were going to medal, Hernandez said. Were finally here.Andre Ward in 2004 was the last American male to win a gold medal in boxing. Deontay Wilder won the bronze in 2008 and the American men had an embarrassing medal-free trip to London four years ago.Hernandez, 20 years old and out of Wichita, Kansas, tried to win one more shocker and advance to the gold-medal bout. Hernandez had pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the Olympics first three days on Monday night with a unanimous decision over Russias Vasilii Egorov, the European champion and runner-up at last years world championships.Dusmatov, a clever left-hander, got in enough shots over the first two rounds to win 30-27 and 29-28 on two cards.I should have been a little more wild instead of picking my shots from the outside, Hernandez said.U.S coach Billy Walsh said he thought Hernandez could have done enough to steal a win.I thought we had a chance, Walsh said.With good reason. The Americans had been one of the surprises of the tournament with a 6--1 record into Friday.dddddddddddd The run stalled on Friday when Carlos Balderas followed Hernandez and lost to Cuban 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Lazaro Alvarez by unanimous decision in a lightweight bout.Hernandez, who rooms with Balderas, had two friends and his mother and father in the stands.It was motivation for me seeing them in the crowd and hearing their voices, he said, but I didnt want to lose in front of them.He complained of blurred vision after he was busted open late in the second round, blood streaming down his face, though the result was all but decided at that point.I let it get way too close, he said.Hernandez restored some of the pride in the American program that was reeling following the London shutout. The nine-man American team won only five fights in London and failed to win any medals for the first time. This years six-man U.S. team already has six wins with more bouts ahead.In 2012, Errol Spence was the only American man even to reach the Olympic quarterfinals by winning two bouts.Balderas run ended because he said he was tired and wasted too much energy in the first round chasing Alvarez. He was also worn down from a bruising first fight on Tuesday against Japans Daisuke Narimatsu.I told my coach in the back when I was warming up that my body felt shut down, Balderas said.The American medal push isnt over. Flyweight Antonio Vargas fights Saturday and bantamweight Shakur Stevenson goes on Sunday. Light welterweight Gary Russell tries to go 2-0 on Sunday after a sharp win in his opening bout. ' ' '