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LeBron, Cavs open on road Posted: Tuesday July 29, 2003 8:01 PMCLEVELAND (AP) -- King James will begin his NBA career against the Kings. Rookie LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will open the 2003-04 NBA season at Sacramento on Oct. 29. The Cavs will play three games on the West Coast before playing their home opener at Gund Arena on Nov. 5 against Denver. The game with the Nuggets will feature a head-to-head matchup between James and Denver's Carmelo Anthony, James' close friend who led Syracuse to the NCAA title this year before being taken with the No. 3 overall pick in the draft. The Cavaliers, who haven't appeared on network TV since Dec. 6, 2000, when they played the Chicago Bulls, are scheduled to make 13 appearances on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and TNT this year. "The LeBron factor is all around. We're going to get some exposure," general manager Jim Paxson said. James, the most hyped player to make the jump from high school to the pros, has fans and network officials changing their priorities and habits. After averaging an league-worst 11,497 fans per game, the Cavaliers have had an unprecedented run on season-ticket sales at the 20,000-plus seat Gund. Among the games to be televised on ESPN are the Wednesday night opener in Sacramento, the home opener against Denver and a game on Christmas in Orlando. Other national TV games include both games against the Los Angeles Lakers (Jan. 12, Feb. 4) and an appearance on ABC against New York on Feb. 22. The Cavaliers will close the calendar year with three home games -- Dec. 26 vs. Chicago, Dec. 28 vs. Portland and Dec. 30 vs. Indiana. The defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs will visit Cleveland on Feb. 4. Cleveland's longest road trip will be a six-game, 11-day jaunt starting in Toronto on Jan. 7 and ending on Jan. 17 in Utah.
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