2012-2013 NBA Schedule Released
Miami’s championship defense will begin where they won last season’s title, and the first game for the Brooklyn Nets will be at home against their now-crosstown rival.
LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Heat will raise their title banner at home on Oct. 30 against the Boston Celtics as part of an opening-night tripleheader, meaning Ray Allen’s first game with Miami will come against his former club and in a rematch of last season’s seven-game Eastern Conference finals.
Also on opening night, Washington visits Cleveland (technically the season’s first game, starting an hour earlier than the Boston-Miami matchup) and Dallas plays at the Los Angeles Lakers, Steve Nash’s debut as Kobe Bryant’s teammate.
Jeremy Lin won’t be in that Knicks-Nets opener — his return to Madison Square Garden comes Dec. 17. The Knicks play in Houston on Nov. 23.
As for the NBA Finals rematches, both will get national-television treatment. The Thunder visit the Heat as part of a five-game slate on Christmas Day (to be aired on ABC), and the Heat will head to Oklahoma City on Feb. 14, a game to be shown on TNT.
The All-Star Game is in Houston on Feb. 17. The regular season ends April 17.
In all, 238 games are expected to be televised nationally, with 96 on NBATV (including Lin’s trip back to New York), 75 on ESPN, 52 on TNT (highlighted by Brooklyn’s first game and All-Star weekend) and 15 on ABC (with Allen’s return to Boston on Jan. 27 among those). The Finals in June will again be aired on ABC.
Top draft pick Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Hornets start their season at home on Oct. 31 against San Antonio. Another Hornets game that will almost certainly get some attention is scheduled for Jan. 16 in Boston — where New Orleans rookie Austin Rivers would be facing a Celtics team coached by his father, Boston’s Doc Rivers.
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