The NBA has officially released the 2013-14 NBA season schedule and we now know what games will be on T.V. as families open Christmas gifts on December 25th. Check out the 2013 Christmas Day schedule below.
Bulls vs. Nets (12:00pm) (ESPN)
Thunder vs. Knicks (2:30pm) (ABC)
Heat vs. Lakers (5:00pm) (ABC)
Rockets vs. Spurs (8:00pm) (ESPN)
Clippers vs. Warriors (10:30pm) (ESPN)
Kobe Bryant still may be hobbled after surgery for a torn Achilles tendon, but national viewers will be seeing a lot of his Los Angeles Lakers this season.
The NBA released the full regular-season schedules for all 30 teams on Tuesday, as well as the full schedule of nationally televised games. The Lakers are on national television 29 times during the season, including a 5 p.m. ET Christmas Day matchup with the defending champion Miami Heat.
This game is one of five games on the schedule for a star-studded Christmas.
There is a showdown between the Chicago Bulls and the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center at noon ET; a visit by the Oklahoma City Thunder to Madison Square Garden to face the New York Knicks at 2:30 p.m.; the Houston Rockets will visit the San Antonio Spurs at 8; and the Los Angeles Clippers will play the Golden State Warriors in Oakland at 10:30.
The season tips off on Tuesday, Oct. 29, with two marquee games on TNT. The Heat will begin their title defense against the Bulls at home, followed by Lakers and Clippers facing off at Staples Center.
The Bulls, boasting a fully recovered Derrick Rose (who missed the entire 2012-13 season recovering from a torn knee ligament), and the New York Knicks, who finished second in the East last season with Rose out, have the most nationally televised games of any team in the league, with 33. The Thunder are a close second with 30. The Clippers and Lakers each have 29, and the two-time defending champion Heat will be featured 27 times. The defending Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs are on 20 times.
Dwight Howard will face the Lakers for the first time as a member of the Rockets Feb. 19 on ESPN. Howard left the Lakers for Houston in free agency this summer, by far the most high-profile player to change teams during the offseason.
The Boston Celtics host the Clippers for the first time on Wednesday, Dec. 11. Former Celtics coach Doc Rivers left Boston in June to replace Vinny Del Negro as the Clippers’ head coach.
Former Celtics greats Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, who were instrumental in helping Boston win the 2008 title, return to the TD Ameritrade Garden for the first time as members of the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, Jan. 24. That game will be aired on ESPN.