The NBA has finalized its season tip-off Christmas Day national television schedule with a five-game slate beginning with the Celtics at the Knicks at noon ET on TNT. The opening game on TNT will be followed with a doubleheader on ABC with the Heat playing at the defending NBA champion Mavericks at 2:30pm and the Bulls playing in L.A. against the Lakers at 5:00pm. ESPN will then broadcast two games beginning at 8:00pm with the Magic against the Thunder, followed by the Clippers at the Warriors (John Lombardo, SportsBusiness Journal). In L.A., Broderick Turner notes the Clippers will play on Christmas "because they are a team on the rise" (L.A. TIMES, 12/2). ESPN DALLAS' Jeff Caplan notes the Mavericks "won't get to flash any championship bling in front of their Christmas Day opponent and NBA Finals victim, the Miami Heat." Mavs Owner Mark Cuban said that he "has not had the 2010-11 championship rings designed because he wants to get input from Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd as to how the rings should look." Cuban has been "prohibited from speaking to his players" during the lockout. He said that he "considered handing out fake rings at the opener, but decided to hold the banner raising ceremony and ring presentation on separate nights, giving fans that might have attended the canceled Nov. 1 opener, but have other plans on Christmas Day, a chance to see one of the special moments" (ESPNDALLAS.com, 12/1).
A RETURN TO NORMAL: The partial lift of the NBA lockout continued with the league Thursday night transitioning NBA.com, team sites and NBA TV back to featuring current player images, content and video. The league wiped out all use of current player images on NBA.com, teams sites and NBA TV when the lockout began on July 1. The site’s full transition back to using player images is expected to be completed by Friday morning. NBA.com will begin running video highlights from last season, a free agency tracker and other player-related content (Lombardo). In N.Y, Howard Beck notes NBA TV will begin showing "more current and vital programming." Starting at 1:00am on Friday, the channel began carrying "condensed, one-hour replays of each game of the 2011 NBA finals." Those highlights "will be repeated until 7 p.m. Friday, when 'NBA Game Time' will return." The full schedule for the 66-game season "will be announced Tuesday at 7 p.m., on NBATV" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/2).
