Wednesday, July 20, 2011
By Jodie Valade
Cleveland Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND
Assuming the NBA season begins on time — and that’s a fairly big assumption to make as the league enters its 20th day of a lockout — No. 1 pick Kyrie Irving will begin his NBA career with the Cavaliers on Nov. 2 at Boston.
The point guard from Duke will debut in front of the home crowd at The Q two days later, Nov. 4 against Toronto.
The Cavaliers have only one game scheduled to appear on ESPN this season, the Nov. 18 home game against Miami — and LeBron James. The Heat’s second game in Cleveland is March 17. Three other games are scheduled for NBA TV: Nov. 7 at Denver, Dec. 5 at Philadelphia and March 16 at Chicago.
The NBA champion Dallas Mavericks make their only appearance of the season in Cleveland on Feb. 4; the Cavaliers visit Dallas on Nov. 26.
The longest road trip of the season is a six-game West Coast swing in early January, and the Cavaliers play 20 sets of back-to-back games. The kindest stretch comes in the doldrums of February, when the Cavaliers play seven of eight games at home Feb. 8-21.
All of this, of course, assuming the NBA season begins as scheduled.
The champion Dallas Mavericks will open the season at home on Nov. 1 against MVP Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls. The Mavericks host Miami in a finals rematch Christmas Day.
Owners and players are still well apart in negotiations on a labor deal to replace the one that expired June 30.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.