2012 NBA Schedule: Early Season Must-Watch Games

While the Christmas Day games have garnered most of the public attention, the first week of the season has a host of fantastically watchable games, outright must-see TV. 

The NBA did some good, smart scheduling, as from the outset, there will be a game worth watching nearly daily. 

There are five games that I can't wait to see in the first week alone, and here they are.

Memphis at San Antonio, Dec. 26

Don't plan on spending the day after Christmas away from the TV set. You'll have to set aside some time to watch the San Antonio Spurs try to avenge their early-season ouster at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies. 

It was only the the third time in NBA history a No. 1 seed fell to a No. 8 seed in the playoffs. The Spurs will be looking to start off the season differently than the way the last one ended in front of their home court. It will certainly be a great game to watch. 

Boston at Miami, Dec 27

These teams grew to immediately really not like one another last year. While the Bulls and Heat have a kind of respectful rivalry, you don't get the sense the teams dislike each other. There's not any animosity there. It's more of Cards/Cubs kind of rivalry. 

Here, though, with the old Big Three and the new Big Three, you get the feeling they aren't going to go out for drinks after the game. This is a quickly turning into a Red Sox/Yankees rivalry. 

Whether it was Rondo sticking his mug in the Heat huddle or the way the Heat ousted the Celtics form the playoffs last year, there's genuine enmity here, and this game promises to produce some fireworks. 

Dallas at Oklahoma City, Dec 29

I think Jason Kidd might be older than two or three of the Thunder's fathers. Maybe he should change his last name to Adult?

This will be a rematch of last year's Western Conference Finals, and it will be one of three high-profile games on the 29th which promise to be great games. 

This game should give us an early indication of whether the Thunder are ready to take over the reigns as the front-runner to land the top seed in the Conference or if the Mavs plan to let these upstarts know that they aren't ready to give things up quite so easily. 

New Jersey at Orlando, Dec 29

This game is one that will be interesting if Dwight Howard doesn't get traded, but it could be well beyond interesting if he does get traded to the Nets. What if this is Howard's first game in Orlando this year? 

Certainly the prospect of watching the Deron Williams to Howard combination has its own reasons for being compelling. Watching that tandem in Orlando would be the biggest thing since LeBron came back to Cleveland, though.

Knicks at Lakers, Dec 29

This is a game that will end up featuring at least one Chris Paul spurned teams. It will also be between the two largest TV markets in the US, so it's no surprise that this one is going to be on TNT. 

Both teams are going to be full tilt on proving they are championship contenders, and this game will tell a lot as to where both teams stack up. Will the Knicks play defense? How much does Kobe have left in the tank?

This game will be a late one, but no one will be getting sleepy, not even on the East Coast, and especially not in New York.