MIAMI—
This time there was no formal announcement, just a few computer clicks with the delete button by the NBA.
But there, on the league’s official websites, are the results:
Two more weeks from the NBA schedule are gone.
Without the announcement that preceded the previous two rounds of cancelations amid the ongoing NBA lockout, the NBA reset team schedules overnight Saturday, with the Miami Heat’s 2011-12 schedule now showing a Dec. 16 start.
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While the action was expected, with Commissioner David Stern announcing earlier in the week that if players accepted the league’s latest proposal he would reset a 72-game schedule that opens Dec. 15, the latest round of cancellations nonetheless was made surreptitiously.
As it is, the 82-game schedule the league announced in July is expected to endure a considerable makeover to accommodate a new length, stretching a week beyond the previously announced April 18 finish.
In fact, while the officially revised Heat schedule now shows a Dec. 16 start on the road against the Washington Wizards, word has been circulating that under Stern’s 72-game plan, the Heat would open Dec. 15 at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks. The Heat had originally been scheduled to open Nov. 2 at Madison Square Garden under the initial 82-game configuration.
For now, the additional games cut overnight Saturday from the original schedule cost the Heat a nationally televised Dec. 1 road game against the Boston Celtics, a Dec. 2 road game against the Toronto Raptors, a Dec. 6 road game against the Detroit Pistons, a nationally televised Dec. 8 home game against the Los Angeles Lakers, a Dec. 9 road game against the Atlanta Hawks, a Dec. 12 home game against the Houston Rockets and a Dec. 14 home game against the Indiana Pacers.
iwinderman@tribune.com, Twitter @IraHeatBeat
