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Spurs begin title defense on opening night at new season
WASHINGTON, August 8 (Xinhua) -- The NBA released its schedule Monday for the 2005-06 season and the defending champion San Antonio Spurs will highlight opening night when they host the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, November 1 at SBC Center. TNT will cover the Spurs/Nuggets game, which kicks off Premiere Week and will feature the ring ceremony for the NBA champions. Also on opening night of the league's 60th season, the Dallas Mavericks will visit the high-flying Phoenix Suns, who put together a league-best 62-20 record last year. ESPN tips off its game coverage on November 2 with a doubleheader. In the first game, the Philadelphia 76ers will head to The Palace to visit the two-time Eastern Conference champion Detroit Pistons. Detroit, which won the title in 2003-04 and lost to San Antonio in seven games during this past year's NBA Finals, will play its first game under new head coach Flip Saunders. The second game of the doubleheader features Phil Jackson's first game back as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers when his team visits the Pepsi Center to face the Nuggets. Jackson won three NBA championships with the Lakers and reached the Finals in 2003-04 before parting ways with the club. On Thursday night TNT presents another marquee doubleheader featuring Shaquille O'Neal and the Miami Heat as they welcome the Indiana Pacers to American Airlines Arena. In the nightcap, Jackson will then make his return debut in Hollywood as the Lakers host Phoenix. Premiere Week continues on Friday, November 4 with ESPN's doubleheader as LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers visit the Spurs, followed by the Seattle SuperSonics taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves from Key Arena. ABC will begin its coverage with a blockbuster Christmas Day doubleheader. Game one features a highly-anticipated rematch of the 2005 NBA Finals as the Spurs visit Detroit at The Palace of Auburn Hills. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers travel east in their first matchup with O'Neal and Miami. The matchup will be O'Neal's first meeting against his former coach, Jackson. The NBA and TNT will have a doubleheader on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 16) as the Spurs visit the Memphis Grizzlies, followed by the second game which has Miami visiting the Lakers. For the third straight season, ABC will exclusively broadcast the NBA Finals, which tip off in June 2006. This season, TNT will be the exclusive home of the 2006 NBA Western Conference Finals and ESPN and ABC will exclusively televise the 2006 NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
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