NBA Officially Releases 2011-12 Game And Broadcast Schedule

NBA logo at practice

After enduring 149 days of the NBA lockout, the movement to get the season started in time for the all-important Christmas day quintuple-header has begun in earnest. While the new CBA gets officially ratified at the end of the week, the NBA went ahead and released the new 66-game NBA season schedule on NBA TV as teams prepare to open training camps and enter a shortened free agency period beginning Friday.

It is not an all-new schedule however, and bears some semblance of the original 82-game schedule that was released months ago in the midst of the lockout. In the case of a team such as the Miami Heat, the revised schedule contains 27 games that remain unchanged (date & opponent) from the original schedule, and another 22 games that are the same date, but are against different teams.

In addition, the NBA also released the broadcast schedules for ABC, ESPN, TNT, NBA TV, and NBA on ESPN Radio.

Following the season tip-off on Christmas Day, with a five-game slate previously announced, Kia NBA Tip-Off ’11 includes 109 NBA games highlighted by a series of marquee doubleheaders Tuesday, Dec. 27, and Thursday, Dec. 29, on TNT, and Friday, Jan. 6, on ESPN. NBA TV will also present five doubleheaders during the period starting Monday, Dec. 26, through Wednesday, Jan. 4.

Broadcast highlights include:

 

TNT

In its 28th year of NBA coverage, TNT will televise 45 regular-season games, including 32 as part of Thursday night doubleheaders and a doubleheader on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. TNT will also televise NBA All-Star 2012 festivities in Orlando Feb. 24-26, culminating with its exclusive presentation of the NBA’s 61st All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 26.

ABC & ESPN

ESPN will televise 75 regular-season games, which include 23 games on Wednesdays and 25 on Fridays. ESPN telecasts are also available via ESPN3, with nearly all on ESPN Mobile TV. ESPN Deportes (ESPN’s Spanish-language U.S. sports network) will present 19 games and ESPN 3D will also televise select regular-season games. The ABC national television schedule consists of 15 exclusive regular-season broadcasts and tips off with a doubleheader on Christmas Day.

The NBA on ABC and ESPN presents flexible scheduling throughout the regular season in order to provide the most compelling matchups to a national audience.

NBA TV

NBA TV will present its 96-game slate, which will include 33 doubleheaders this season. For the fourth consecutive year, NBA TV will feature Fan Night on Tuesdays throughout the season. On Fan Night, NBA fans are given the opportunity to vote for the games they want to see televised nationally on NBA TV on that particular night. Fan Night begins this season on Tuesday, Jan. 3.

ESPN RADIO

The NBA on ESPN Radio’s 23-game regular-season scheduled begins opening day with Miami at Dallas on Christmas Day at 2:30 p.m. ET. The NBA on ESPN Radio will also broadcast all the events from NBA All-Star 2012 in Orlando.

NBA LEAGUE PASS

Once again, NBA LEAGUE PASS will offer up to 40 out-of-market games per week. Games included in NBA LEAGUE PASS are in addition to those available on ABC, TNT, NBA TV, ESPN, ESPN2 and local networks. NBA LEAGUE PASS is available on DIRECTV, DISH Network, and most digital cable and telephone providers, and is also available for fans to access on NBA.com and select mobile devices.

NBA CHRISTMAS DAY GAMES:

The season begins Sunday, Dec. 25 with five televised games. The Celtics visit the Knicks to tip off the season on TNT (12 p.m. ET). ABC then presents a double-header when the Mavericks host the Heat in a rematch of The Finals (2:30 p.m. ET), followed by the Bulls visiting the Lakers (5 p.m. ET). ESPN rounds out the day with a pair of games when the Thunder hosts the Orlando Magic (8 p.m. ET), and the Clippers visit the Golden State Warriors (10:30 p.m. ET).

For the eighth straight season, ABC will exclusively broadcast The Finals, which tips off next June. This season, TNT is the exclusive home of the 2012 NBA Western Conference Finals and ESPN will exclusively televise the 2012 NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

NBA.com offers day-by-day and team-by-team schedules as well as regular-season telecast schedules of the league’s domestic broadcast partners – ABC, ESPN, TNT, NBA TV, and the NBA on ESPN Radio.

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