New Orleans Hornets' 2011-12 schedule might take a hit because of ...

All or part of it might never come to pass, but the New Orleans Hornets’ 2011-12 schedule released by the NBA on Tuesday is rich with extended trips, as well as attractive early home games that could also be lost should games be canceled. The Hornets are tentatively scheduled to open at home Nov. 2 against the Chicago Bulls and reigning league MVP Derrick Rose, then host the defending Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat with its big three of Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James on Nov. 9 at the New Orleans Arena. Both those games could be in jeopardy, however, if history repeats from the last NBA lockout that erased 32 games of the 1998-99 regular season, which didn’t begin until February 1999. Home games against the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks (Dec. 21) and Boston Celtics (Dec. 28) also are tenuous. Three of New Orleans’ four games scheduled against the Mavericks are in the first half of the season, the part of the year most likely to be wiped out, based on past <a href="http://www.belstaffsjackets.co.uk/belstaff-jackets-mens-c-1.html"><strong>belstaff leather jacket</strong></a> history. If that holds true, the Hornets would lose six home games against Western Conference playoff teams of a year ago, and six home games against last season’s Eastern Conference playoff participants. New Orleans could also lose one of its two scheduled nationally televised games if the first part of the schedule is lost. The Hornets are on the TNT schedule Thanksgiving night for a game at the Los Angeles Clippers, as well as the ESPN broadcast slate for a Feb. 17 game at the New York Knicks. Six Hornets <a href="http://www.belstaffsjackets.co.uk"><strong>belstaff outlet</strong></a> games are scheduled for telecast by NBA TV. More could be added, if the season is played, because of the flexibility the league employs in its national TV scheduling, especially later in the season. The Hornets also are scheduled for a four-game-in-five-night trip Feb. 15-22 (at Cleveland, New York, Indiana and Dallas), just before the tentative All-Star break, another four-in-five trip from March 5-10 (at Portland, Sacramento, Denver and Minnesota), and a four-game-in-seven-night trip March 26-April 1 (at the Clippers, Golden State, Portland and Phoenix). If the lockout eliminates games through January, as the last did (the 1999 season began that year for the Hornets on Feb. 5) there are 41 games — half the regular season — scheduled from Feb. 1 until the end of the season in 2012, 19 at New Orleans Arena, 22 on the road. Should the schedule be played in its entirety — which appears unlikely given that no collective bargaining sessions have been held since the work stoppage commenced July 1 — the Hornets would have several extended road swings, the first of which is a five-game in nine-day trip to the West Coast, including that TV game against the Clippers. New Orleans would follow that up with another six games away from home in the first three weeks of December. From a positive standpoint, the regular-season’s two home games against the Los Angeles Lakers (March 14 and April 9) are each in the second half of the season, which could be salvaged based on previous lockout history. The Hornets are only scheduled to play at the Lakers once, on Nov. 6. New Orleans has 14 games against Western Conference playoff teams from last season in the final 41 — seven at home, seven away. The Hornets are scheduled to play seven games against Eastern Conference playoff teams from last season, five of those on the road. The schedule has the Hornets playing <a href="http://www.436100.info/view.php?id=94107"><strong>north face outlet | north face coats</strong></a> three Western Conference foes three times: Phoenix (two road, one home), the Lakers (two home, one road) and Utah (two home, one road). Don’t etch plans in stone, though. It’s likely should part of the season be lost because of labor unrest, the league will revise much of the schedule that was released Tuesday.