There has allegedly been a tentative schedule floating around for the upcoming 2015-16 NBA season, and, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, the New Orleans Pelicans and the Miami Heat will match up in one of the featured NBA games on Christmas Day:
Per league source, tentative (not yet definite) NBA schedule in circulation has New Orleans playing the Heat on Christmas in Miami at noon.
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) August 5, 2015
Since the inception of the Big Three era in Miami — and even prior to that — Christmas day games are old hat for the Heat, whereas the Pelicans will be relative newcomers. Here’s more specifics from Dan Feldman of ProBasketballTalk:
“The Heat are mainstays on the NBA’s Christmas schedule. They’ve played the last six years and 10 of the last 11.
The Pelicans, on the other hand, have just one Christmas game in franchise history – a 20-point loss to the Magic in 2008. Even if you count their time in Charlotte, which you shouldn’t, that’s the franchise’s only Christmas game.”
It’ll be a great opportunity for the Heat to debut a revamped lineup featuring Dwyane Wade, a rehabilitated Chris Bosh, Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic, and Luol Deng that the team hopes will vault them back into contention in the very near future.
It’s also an opportunity to showcase one of the league finest young talents, Anthony Davis, who made his inaugural postseason appearance last spring against the Golden State Warriors and, if things go according to plan, should find himself back in the MVP conversation this year. It’ll also be a homecoming of sorts for Norris Cole, who eventually ended up with the Pelicans in a complicated deal that sent Goran Dragic to the Heat.
(Via PBT)
