Two more games added to Christmas opener

NEW YORK - Oklahoma City will host Orlando before Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers visit Golden State on Christmas night, increasing the NBA's planned opening-day schedule to five games.

Those games were added Friday to the three that were already set when the 2011-12 schedule was originally unveiled: Boston at New York, Miami at Dallas, and Chicago at the Los Angeles Lakers.

Commissioner David Stern said the league hoped to open the season with that tripleheader after announcing a tentative agreement on a new labor deal with the players last Saturday. But the league decided to add two later games, with the nightcap featuring Mark Jackson's debut as Warriors coach.

The revised 66-game schedule will be released on Tuesday night in an NBA TV special.

TNT will televise the league opener, while ABC gets the NBA finals rematch and the matchup between MVP Derrick Rose and Kobe Bryant, whose Lakers will be playing their first game under former Cleveland coach Mike Brown. The final two contests will air on ESPN.

The Thunder reached the Western Conference finals last season behind league scoring champion Kevin Durant, while the Magic face the uncertainty of Dwight Howard's future with the team.

"It's a different opening day than has ever happened in the past and Christmas Day games have always been a big day for the NBA," ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy said in a statement.

The Dec. 25 opening date is contingent on the collective bargaining agreement being ratified next week.

Lawyers for the league and players' association resumed negotiations Friday on the remaining issues - the so-called "B-list" items - such as drug testing, the draft eligibility age and the commissioner's power to discipline. The goal is to complete the agreement Tuesday so it could be presented at a meeting of player representatives Wednesday, then both sides would vote to ratify it Thursday.

If that happens, training camps and free agency would open next Friday.

Chris Paul may want to play in New York with his close friend Carmelo Anthony, but a report by ESPN The Magazine says a source familiar with his thinking described the New Orleans Hornets point guard as knowing being dealt to the Knicks is unrealistic.

"He has not asked for a trade to the Knicks, because he knows the Knicks don't have anything to offer," the source said. The story reports league sources as saying Hornets general manager Dell Demps will not take any action until he hears directly from Paul.

The first day Demps could be allowed to talk to Paul is next Friday, when Stern hopes to fully lift the lockout.

The problem facing the Knicks, the story says, is that they sacrificed the bulk of their young talent to acquire Anthony from the Denver Nuggets at last season's trade deadline.

If the Knicks want to keep Amar'e Stoudemire and Anthony, the only trading chips they have of any value are Chauncey Billups, Toney Douglas, Ronny Turiaf and Landry Fields, the story notes.

Organizers have canceled a January professional basketball tournament in Las Vegas hosted by former 76er Allen Iverson, since the league will end its lockout. The two-day event would have featured Durant, Al Harrington, and other NBA stars. Tickets will be refunded.

- Inquirer wire services