LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will visit Golden State Warriors in a Christmas Day rematch.

AFP/New York

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will visit the defending champion Golden State Warriors in a Christmas Day rematch of last season’s National Basketball Association final, the league announced on Wednesday.
The NBA unveiled the 2015-16 schedule and the Christmas Day contest between James’ Cavs and Stephen Curry’s Warriors is just one of five holiday contests planned.
The Christmas showcase starts with the New Orleans Pelicans visiting the Miami Heat followed by the Cavaliers playing in Golden State and then the Chicago Bulls at the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The final two tilts are the San Antonio Spurs at the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Clippers meeting Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers.
The season begins October 27 with Golden State receiving their championship rings before facing the Pelicans. Cleveland visits Chicago who will be guided by Fred Hoiberg in his NBA coaching debut.
Also on opening weekend will be Kevin Durant, who missed most of last season with injuries, and the Thunder playing host to the Spurs, Bryant returning to the Lakers for a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves and first overall entry draft pick Karl-Anthony Towns, and DeAndre Jordan and the Clippers battling the Dallas Mavericks.
Other noteworthy matchups include the Clippers and Jordan visiting Dallas on November 11 to face the Mavericks. Center Jordan verbally committed during the offseason as a free agent to Dallas and then backed out to remain in southern California.
Forward LaMarcus Aldridge returns to Portland with the Spurs to face his former Trail Blazer team the same night.
Nowitzki set for Germany bow after four-year break
NBA star Dirk Nowitzki is set to play his first international basketball match in four years for Germany on Friday against Croatia, the Dallas Mavericks’ power forward has confirmed.
“I assume that I’ll play. I feel good, especially as it’s something different here, running on the treadmill or running around with the team,” he said ahead of the Zagreb friendly after a training camp on Mallorca with the national team.
Germany then host Croatia in Bremen on Sunday as part of the two warm-up matches for next month’s European championships when they face Spain, Serbia, Italy, Turkey and Iceland in Group B.
The last time Nowitzki played for Germany was during the 2011 European championships in Lithuania and stepped down from the national team after they missed out on qualifying for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
In his 141 appearances for Germany, he helped his country finish third at the 2002 world championships and they were runners-up at the 2005 European championships.