Christmas day will feature five games

NEW YORK (AP) — Oklahoma City will host Orlando before Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers visit Golden State on Christmas night, running the NBA’s planned opening-day schedule to five games.

Those games were added Friday to the three that were already set when the 2011-12 schedule was originally unveiled: Boston at New York, Miami at Dallas, and Chicago at the Los Angeles Lakers.

Commissioner David Stern said the league hoped to open the season with that tripleheader after announcing a tentative agreement on a new labor deal with the players last Saturday. But the league decided to add two later games, with the nightcap featuring Mark Jackson’s debut as Warriors coach.

Tags: sports, nba, basektball