Several teams that appear to be in comfortable playoff position at this point in the year are really struggling in road games. This is a factor that could keep these prominent teams from moving into an elite level entering the postseason even though all have been strong recent contenders. This trio of teams will often play as road favorites or small road underdogs but these are teams that have not proven capable of delivering consistent road performances so far this year and will also face difficult scheduling stretches in the coming weeks.

San Antonio Spurs

While the savvy veteran lineup for the Spurs and a proven postseason coach will make the Spurs a threat in the playoffs at any seed, San Antonio is likely to see its record decline in the coming weeks. The Spurs are 24-15, featuring the fourth-best record in the Western Conference and right on the heels of the Dallas Mavericks in the Southwest division. San Antonio has a glowing 17-6 home record, but this is a team that is just 7-9 on the road this season. Winning on the road is never easy in the NBA and at this point only Dallas, the L.A. Lakers, and Oklahoma City have winning road records in the Western Conference. The difference for the Spurs is that their record is built on having played seven more home games than road games at this point in the year.

San Antonio lost back-to-back road games at Charlotte and Memphis last week and on the season the Spurs have just two road wins over winning teams. Last season the Spurs went 26-15 in road games, only trailing the Lakers for the best road record in the West, so there may be a big difference between this year’s squad and past successful San Antonio teams. The rest of January will close with six consecutive home games and San Antonio should be sitting in fine shape in the standings but February could be a very tough month.

The Spurs will embark on an eight-game road trip spanning both coasts with five games out west and three games out east in February. For the month, San Antonio will play nine road games and just two home games so this is a team that could easily fall back to the pack in the conference standings. While March will not feature any long stretches of consecutive road games, the Spurs will face several challenging road games against elite teams, playing at Cleveland, Orlando, and Atlanta while facing a tricky travel schedule with no consecutive home games from early February through late March. The Spurs also have a very tough April schedule that could leave this team fighting for playoff position. Although the Spurs would be the #4 seed in the West right now, they are closer to being in the #11 position than they are the #1 spot as behind the Lakers there are ten teams are stacked within five games in the standings.

Orlando Magic

The Magic were a fantastic road team last season, finishing the regular season at 27-14 and getting several big road wins in the playoff run to the NBA Finals. Orlando is well off last season’s great pace and the biggest difference has been play on the road, already with ten losses away from home. Orlando still maintains a tough home court at 14-4, but the road record is why teams like Atlanta, Cleveland, and Boston have put some distance ahead of the Magic in the standings.

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Orlando started the year going 10-2 in the first twelve road games of the season including wins at Boston and Atlanta to display its reigning supremacy in the Eastern Conference, but things have turned for the worse, going 2-8 in the past ten road contests. The only road wins in that stretch came at Minnesota and at Sacramento, two teams that are miles away from Orlando in terms of contending potential. Even if the Magic continue to struggle on the road, this will be a playoff team as three playoff teams would be .500 or worse in the East, but home court can mean a lot in the postseason and Orlando is in danger of having to play on the road for the better part of playoffs against the other top contenders.

The good news for the Magic is that only once the rest of the season will Orlando play three consecutive road games. The upcoming road schedule is difficult, particularly for a team that has not been able to beat several mediocre teams away from home. The Magic will play at Los Angeles, Charlotte, Memphis, Boston, Chicago, and Cleveland in the next three weeks for a difficult gauntlet of road contests. Late January and February will be a critical stretch for Orlando and a telling period of whether the Magic can re-emerge as an elite team or if they will limp into the postseason with daunting road match-ups in the playoffs.

Portland Trailblazers

Playing poorly on the road is nothing new for Portland as the Blazers went just 20-21 on the road last season. One of the league’s best home records last season and this season has kept this team in contention, but the road play keeps this team out of the elite picture. Portland will always likely have a great disparity between its home and road play in part due to the geographic isolation of the city compared with the rest of the league. With Seattle out of the picture there are no longer any short road trips and the closest road venue in Sacramento is still nearly 600 miles away.

The Blazers are 9-9 on the road this season, but that mark could get worse in the coming weeks as the Blazers have played five more home games than road games at this point and will face some tough travel spots in the near future. Portland has climbed into a favorable playoff spot in the middle of the tight Western Conference race, but nine of the last ten games have been played at home, sparking a run of strong play. Prior to the long homestand, the Blazers did pick up some key road wins at Miami, Dallas, and San Antonio, but this is team that has also lost to the Clippers, Bucks, Warriors, and Knicks on the road this season.

Starting this week will be a four-game East Coast road trip and although Boston is the only viable team on the schedule playing that kind of road trip across the country will be difficult and it could take a toll into bigger games the following weeks. Upcoming road games at Houston, Dallas, and Utah could prove to be critical in the conference standings and the Blazers will also have to endure a five-game road trip and a stretch of 15 out of 21 on the road starting in late February. The Blazers will be very tough at home, but unless Portland can maintain a respectable road record this is a team that is far from a lock to make the playoffs.