Read More: Dwight Howard (C – ORL), Kevin Durant (F – OKC), Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder

With the NBA Lockout finally in the rearview mirror, a fast and frenzied free agency period and condensed training camp has begun, with NBA teams finally taking the floor for exhibition games beginning next weekend. The Orlando Magic and Miami Heat will spend their lockout-shortened preseason facing each other in a home-and-home-series beginning next Sunday, December 18th.

Once those warm-up contests are complete, both Orlando and Miami open the truncated NBA season on Christmas Day. LeBron, Wade and Bosh will travel to Dallas to take on Dirk and the defending champs in a midday contest. The Magic will travel to Oklahoma City to take on Kevin Durant and the Thunder in a primetime affair, with the biggest question being whether Dwight Howard will still be on the Orlando roster come tip time.

Magic and Heat Preseason Schedule

Sunday, December 18th: Orlando Magic at Miami Heat, 6:00 PM

Wednesday, December 21st: Miami Heat at Orlando Magic, 7:00 PM

For more Magic coverage, please visit Orlando Pinstriped Post, SB Nation’s Magic blog. For more Heat coverage, head on over to Peninsula is Mightier, SB Nation’s Heat blog.

Read More: nba lockout, Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Utah Jazz

The first two weeks of the 2011-2012 NBA Season have been cancelled after the league failed to reach an agreement with the Player’s Association on Monday night (Oct. 10, 2011).

As a result, the following games on the New York Knicks schedule have been cancelled:

Nov. 2: Miami Heat at New York Knicks
Nov. 5: New York Knicks at Milwaukee Bucks
Nov. 6: New York Knicks at Detroit Pistons
Nov. 8: Oklahoma City Thunder at New York Knicks
Nov. 9: New York Knicks at Atlanta Hawks
Nov. 12: Indiana Pacers at New York Knicks
Nov. 14: New York Knicks at Utah Jazz

Unfortunately the work stoppage may continue after the two-week period expires as no new developments have been reported and the two sides are currently far apart on most (if not all) of the major sticking points.

The NBA and the Player’s Association are expected to meet at some point next week, which leaves them little time to save the remainder of the season if by some miracle the wrinkles are ironed out in time to play ball.

Read More: nba schedule, 2011-12 cavs schedule, J.J. Hickson (F – SAC), Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Toronto Raptors, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers

The NBA released the 2011-12 schedule on Tuesday afternoon with a triple-header of action on opening night – November 1 – that includes the World Champion Dallas Mavericks hosting the Chicago Bulls and the Oklahoma City Thunder traveling to Los Angeles to face the Lakers.

One team NOT included in the opening night festivities are the Miami Heat.  They open the season on Wednesday, November 2 with a trip to Madison Square Garden to face the New York Knicks.

The Cleveland Cavaliers also open their 2011-12 season on the road, heading to Boston to face the Celtics.  Cleveland will take on the Toronto Raptors in the Home Opener at The Q on Friday, November 4.  Cleveland won’t spend long at home, however, taking their first trip to the West Coast starting November 6.  The Wine and Gold will play 3 games in 4 nights against the Los Angeles Clippers(11/6), Denver Nuggets(11/7) and Sacramento Kings(11/9) in the first meeting between the Cavaliers and J.J. Hickson.

What about the Miami Heat, you ask?  

The Cavaliers and Heat will play four times next season, with the Heat coming to Cleveland on Friday, November 18, a game that will be televised on ESPN.  The Heat will also be at The Q on February 17, 2012 while the Cavaliers will head to South Beach on March 7 and April 6.

The Novemeber 18th matchup is the only time the Cavaliers are scheduled to be on ESPN/ABC or TNT all season.  Cleveland will play 13 games in November, with 6 at home and 7 on the road.

Check out the complete 2011-12 NBA Schedule;  Cavaliers site Fear The Sword talk about the Cavs schedule as well!

Down by 15. Only 7:14 left. On the road. Headed toward an 0-2
deficit in the NBA finals against a Miami Heat team ready to be
crowned NBA champions since LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined
Dwyane Wade last summer.

It’s pretty remarkable that the Mavericks overcame it all to win
the game and even the series.

It’s also pretty typical of what they’ve done this
postseason.

“If you’re going to win a championship, you’ve got to have the
wherewithal to hang in when things are tough,” Mavs coach Rick
Carlisle said. “You have to keep believing. All year our guys have
believed. And tonight was another good example.”

Annoyed by Wade celebrating a 3-pointer in front of the Dallas
bench, Jason Terry scored six straight points to get the Mavericks
going.

They wound up outscoring the Heat 22-5 down the stretch, with
Dirk Nowitzki scoring their final nine points. The winner came on a
layup using his injured left hand, giving Dallas a 95-93 victory
that will grow in lore should the Mavs wind up winning their first
NBA title.

“You have to be a little lucky, but we kept on plugging,”
Nowitzki said. “We kept believing, kept playing off each
other.”

Dallas pulled off the biggest comeback win in an NBA finals
since Michael Jordan and the Bulls wiped out a similar 15-point
deficit in Game 6 of the 1992 series, beating Portland to close out
their second title.

For the Mavericks, this was their biggest comeback win in … 10
days.

That was the night the Mavs wiped out a 15-point deficit with
5:06 left to beat the Thunder in Oklahoma City in Game 4 of the
conference finals.

Three weeks before that, they’d erased a 16-point, third-quarter
deficit to beat the Lakers in Los Angeles. A few days before that,
they bounced back from a 12-point deficit to beat the Trail Blazers
in Portland to close out their first-round series.

So during a timeout following Wade’s 3, the Mavs sloughed off
the first 7 1/2 quarters they’d played in the NBA finals and
thought back to how they got this far. Carlisle specifically
brought up Oklahoma City, pointing out that there were an extra 2
minutes to polish off this comeback.

“We continued to keep faith in ourselves, grinded it out and got
it done,” Terry said.

Without the spectacular finish, the story for Dallas would’ve
been squandering a nine-point lead with 3:22 left in the first half
and James on the bench with three fouls.

The Mavs repeatedly sent the Heat to the foul line, wound up
tied at halftime, then provided turnover after turnover to fuel a
Miami rally early in the third quarter. Dallas hung tough for a
while, then found itself trailing 88-73 when Wade made the 3 in
front of the Dallas bench.

Fans anticipated something big happening on that play because
they already were on their feet before Wade even got the ball. As
they erupted in cheers, he stayed in the corner holding his hand in
a follow-through pose a little longer than the Mavericks thought he
should have.

Some guys didn’t see it _ or said they didn’t. Those that did
made it clear that the play sparked them.

“We were definitely frustrated,” center Tyson Chandler said.
“When you’ve got a guy celebrating in front of your bench, when
you’re down 15 with 7 minutes to go, you’re like, ‘The game isn’t
over.’ That’s all we said on the bench. ‘Listen, I don’t care what
they think, the game isn’t over.’”

Terry went scoreless in the second half of the opener, and was a
miserable 4 of 16 for the series. Being covered by James was part
of his problem. Terry also was fighting a wrist injury sustained
when James fouled him on a dunk attempt early in Game 1.

Down the stretch, Terry made an adjustment suggested by Jason
Kidd that helped free him for some open space. He started the
winning rally with a jumper, a layup and a pair of free throws, all
coming in less than a minute. He made another jumper with 3:11 left
to put Dallas within 90-86.

Terry finished with 16 points, five assists, two steals and a
huge smile. It was especially sweet for him to stick it to the
Heat, their fans and Wade because he and Nowitzki are the only
players left from the 2006 Mavs who blew the finals by losing three
straight games in Miami _ a meltdown that began with Dallas blowing
a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter of Game 3.

There’s no telling what this result might do.

“Each finals, there’s going to be a turning point, a moment, so
to speak,” Terry said. “And tonight the moment was ours.”

© 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

MIAMI — Heat forward LeBron James is known for a lot of things on the court.

There’s the powder toss before the game. There are the high-flying dunks and passing ability. As James continues to improve as a player, another aspect of his game will be added to the list.

Defense.

Although his scoring has been the talk of the playoffs, his efforts at the defensive end have played just as much of a role in the Heat advancing to the NBA Finals. Their best-of-seven series against the Dallas Mavericks begins Tuesday at AmericanAirlines Arena.

“That’s my favorite part of the floor,” James said. “Offense gets all the headlines but what I do defensively, it’s all about that.”

James has improved so much that it’s becoming difficult to overlook his defense. He’s guarded all five positions at some point this season. In the playoffs, he slowed Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce while also showing versatility against point guards such as the Celtics’ Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls.

James was a first-team All-Defensive selection, finishing third in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard won the award for the third year in a row.

“We knew he was an excellent defender before this year,” forward Chris Bosh said. “He definitely should have been brought up for Defensive Player of the Year. I think that is a goal of his, to be the best defender as well. He’s looking to become that complete player … You can put him at one through four [positions] on offense and he can guard one through five on the other end.”

James could solidify himself as a true defender if he is provided an opportunity to match up against Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki, who has averaged 28.4 points during the postseason. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said James won’t draw the assignment specifically, but the scenario will occur at times.

“Because of the way we defend and rotate, sometimes that will happen,” Spoelstra said. “He’s versatile enough that he’ll probably guard all of their players at least a handful of possessions at least at some point in the series. That’s the way we’ve been doing it for the last two and a half to three months. I don’t see that changing in the series.”

James said he’d welcome the challenge of stopping Nowitzki, who is coming off averaging 32.2 points a game against Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals. A 12-year veteran, Nowitzki has been called one of the league’s toughest covers because of his size (7 feet) and shooting touch. He shot 39 percent from three-point range this season.

“I guess people see me as a really good defender and him as the best offensive player,” James said. “So they automatically put me on him. Whatever it takes, if I need to guard him throughout the course of the series, I will.”

James, who considers himself a student of the game, watches endless hours of video to learn a player’s offensive tendencies. With Nowitzki, he said it’s a matter of just making things difficult.

“Am I going to stop somebody from making a shot all the time? No,” James said. “I’m not that. I study guys. I study their tendencies, what they like, what they dislike and make them uncomfortable. If they’re going to make shots while they’re uncomfortable, I can live with that.”

srichardson@tribune.com