NEW YORK — A Dec. 25 doubleheader featuring the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons in a rematch of this year's NBA Finals highlights the league's television schedule released yesterday.

The second Christmas Day game on ABC will match Kobe Bryant, coach Phil Jackson and the Los Angeles Lakers against superstar center Shaquille O'Neal and the Miami Heat.

The league released its complete game schedule and the national TV schedules of ABC, TNT, ESPN and NBA TV for the 2005-06 season.

The televised season begins Nov. 1, with the defending champion Spurs against the Denver Nuggets on TNT. The game includes the ring ceremony and launches a week of five consecutive nationally televised doubleheaders. In the second game Nov. 1, Dallas faces Phoenix.

Notes

• Milwaukee signed forward Bobby Simmons, who played for the Los Angeles Clippers last season and was voted the league's most improved player. Last month, Simmons, 25, agreed to terms with the Bucks on a five-year deal worth $47 million.

• Forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim, 28, failed to pass a physical given by New Jersey last week. The Nets are expected to decide today whether to complete a trade with Portland.

"We haven't made our decision," Nets president Rod Thorn told the New York Daily News.