The best thing about the end of the NBA lockout is that the season will begin precisely when it should anyway, Michael Wilbon writes in his column at ESPN.
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… Play should never for any reason commence before Thanksgiving and probably not until the first week of December, at the earliest. Truth is, a tripleheader on Christmas Day with Kobe, LeBron, D-Wade, Dirk and D-Rose, plus the Knicks in the Garden hosting the Celtics, is probably better than these two quarrelsome parties deserve. It's as though they stumbled into beginning the NASCAR season with Daytona.
Please, don't tell me the Christmas Day games need a makeover for scheduling reasons. How do you get better than the Mavericks receiving their 2011 NBA championship rings in front of the Miami players? The Lakers are must-see holiday TV, so if LeBron and D-Wade aren't available, who better to share the stage with Kobe than reigning MVP Derrick Rose and a conference finalist team? The last time we saw the allegedly revamped Knicks, they were going out like dogs to the Celtics; what better place to start anew with the most overrated franchise in American sports?
So please, don't let the NBA screw up its first call of the new season. These matchups are irresistible. Purposefully or not, the league couldn't stage a more satisfying comeback.
Read Michael Wilbon's complete column at ESPN.
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