MIAMI?
?? The Miami Heat will be getting their 2013 NBA championship rings in front of the Chicago Bulls. Their fans then will get to enjoy their Christmas dinner watching the Heat from afar, against the Los Angeles Lakers.
?? At least that's the preliminary word based on the nearly completed draft of the 2013-14 NBA schedule sent this week to teams and league broadcast partners, the Sun Sentinel has learned.
?? According to the preliminary schedule, which is subject to revision, the Heat will open their second consecutive championship defense on Tuesday Oct. 29 at AmericanAirlines Arena against the Bulls.
?? According to the all-but-finalized draft of the 2013-14 NBA schedule, the Sun Sentinel also has learned that the Heat will visit Staples Center on Dec. 25 to face the Los Angeles Lakers, a somewhat surprising scheduling move considering the Lakers lost center Dwight Howard to the Houston Rockets in free agency and there remain questions about the return timetable of guard Kobe Bryant from last season's torn Achilles.
?? The final 2013-14 NBA schedule is expected to be released next week. It is rare, practically unprecedented, for nationally televised games, such as opening night and Christmas, to be changed between the initial and final drafts of the schedule.
? The full, official version of the 2013-14 NBA schedule is expected to be released Tuesday.
?? The Heat have had mixed results when receiving championship rings. They were blown out 108-66 on Oct. 31, 2006 by the Bulls at AmericanAirlines Arena, when they received their championship rings for defeating the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals. Last season, the Heat defeated the Boston Celtics 120-107 on Oct. 30, in the wake of the pregame commemoration of their victory in the 2012 NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
?? An added element of opening night, with the scheduling against the Bulls, would be the expected return of Chicago point guard Derrick Rose from more than a year of inactivity. After sustaining a severe knee injury during the 2012 playoffs, Rose missed all of this past season, including the Bulls' 4-1 loss to the Heat in the second round of the 2013 playoffs.
?? As for the Christmas plans on the nearly completed draft of the 2013-14 NBA schedule, it would be the Heat's fifth consecutive Christmas game, with four of those scheduled on the road, the lone exception last year's 103-97 victory over the Thunder at AmericanAirlines Arena.
? This would be the 10th Christmas game for the Heat in the franchise's 26 seasons. When the draft of the currently circulating schedule is finalized, it would give the Heat a Christmas game every year since 2004 with the exception of 2008, when the Heat were coming off a 15-67 season. The Heat are 7-2 in their previous nine Christmas games.
? ?Based on the NBA's schedule draft, it will be the third time the Heat play the Lakers at Staples Center on Christmas and their fifth overall Christmas game against the Lakers, having won the previous four, most recently Dec. 25, 2010 in Los Angeles.
?? It is rare for a defending champion to have to spend Christmas away from home, with the defending champion doing so only three times over the past 10 seasons. The Dallas Mavericks received their NBA championship rings at home on Christmas in 2011 before facing the Heat, when Christmas also was opening day because of the lockout.
iwinderman@tribune.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat
Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-miami-heat-nba-schedule-s072413,0,6896298.story?track=rss
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