The Nuggets don’t have to wait long for a chance at revenge. Denver opens the 2006-07 season Nov. 2 on the road against the Los Angeles Clippers, who eliminated the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs last spring.
Denver’s home opener is the next night (Nov. 3) against Northwest Division rival the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to the NBA schedule released Tuesday.
Highlight home games this season include Dec. 8 against Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal and the NBA champion Miami Heat, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Jan. 19 and Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers on March 15 and April 9. The Nuggets host Western Conference champion Dallas on New Year’s Eve and April 6.
The Nuggets have 22 national television games, the same as they had a year ago. Denver will be on ABC once, ESPN eight times, NBATV eight times and TNT five times.
Four Western Conference teams will play Denver just three times: Houston, Phoenix, San Antonio and the Clippers. The Nuggets will play the rest of the West teams four times each and all Eastern Conference teams home and away.
Both of the Nuggets’ road games against New Orleans-Oklahoma City will be played in Oklahoma City (Dec. 29, April 13). The Nuggets’ toughest road trip looks to be March 20-26 when they face New Jersey, Chicago, Toronto, Cleveland and Detroit.
For season ticket information, call the Nuggets (303-405-1212). Single-game tickets will go on sale at a later date. The preseason schedule will be announced later.
Footnotes
Atlanta Hawks forward Al Harrington is expected to fire his agent Andy Miller, according to a source. Harrington had been expected to be involved in a sign-and-trade deal with Indiana. Once he hires a new agent, likely to be Arn Tellem, the bidding on Harrington is expected to start over. The Nuggets are expected to be among the teams interested if that happens. They would likely need to be involved in a sign-and-trade to make it work from a financial standpoint. … Nuggets director of player personnel Mark Warkentien said forward-center Nene is participating “on a limited basis” at Nuggets assistant Tim Grgurich’s Big Man Camp this week in Las Vegas. Nene played one game last season after sustaining a knee injury. Nuggets guard Julius Hodge, who is still recovering from a leg injury, is not participating while J.R. Smith, Jamal Sampson and Yakhouba Diawara are. … Nuggets international scout Massai Ujiri is coaching Nigeria during Africa’s under-18 junior men’s championship in Durban, South Africa. Ujiri’s team opened to a 4-0 start.
Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-820-5449 or mspears@denverpost.com.
