On Tues, May 31 at Miami's American Airlines Arena, basketball fans will witness the kickoff of what will hopefully be a fantastic 2011 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks. LeBron James and the Heat will be on their own court in the best-of-seven series. Here's an NBA Finals schedule and match-up rundown for you, the fan.

NBA Finals schedule: Watch on ABC, listen on ESPN and Sirius

ESPN Radio and Sirius XM will both broadcast the 2011 NBA Finals game on the radio while it can be seen on television at ABC. The game schedule is as follows:

Game 1: Tuesday, May 31 in Miami, 9 p.m. ET

Game 2: Thursday, June 2 in Miami, 9 p.m. ET

Game 3: Sunday, June 5 in Dallas, 8 p.m. ET

Game 4: Tuesday, June 7 in Dallas, 9 p.m. ET

Game 5 (if necessary): Thursday, June 9 in Dallas, 9 p.m. ET

Game 6 (if necessary): Sunday, June 12 in Miami, 8 p.m. ET

Game 7 (if necessary): Tuesday, June 14 in Miami, 9 p.m. ET

How the competitors will do

Defenses hate playing against LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. They are a dynamic duo that plays for the Miami Heat. Recently, the players both learned to play well together. Before that, they both were able to score whenever they wanted.

Yet when the Heat is in danger of going cold, the ball goes to "King" James. James is so great because of his basketball IQ, shooting touch, size and athleticism. With Wade's offense, it may be hard to stop the team from going too far. Dallas will have to keep his teammates down a bit. Udonis Haslem needs to keep Dirk Nowitzki scared while Chris Bosh needs to play fantastic games. If this occurs, the 2011 NBA Finals will be won by the Miami Heat with five games.

Hard for the newbie Nowitzki

With a bit of careful passing, the Dallas Mavericks should be able to do really well. They may even beat the Heat with challenges against James and Wade. Dirk Nowitzki has worked on his lower body strength quite a bit recently while doing great in the playoffs with 28.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Haslem will realize how good the kid is doing. Veteran Jason Kidd and Jason Terry will help a lot too. They're veterans of the game. The same can be said for Shawn "The Matrix" Marion, who has made key plays.

Kidd, Terry and Marion may all work very hard. Their opportunities for a championship are decreasing as they get older. Also, Nowitzki has gotten better. He is no long a "soft" guy. Even with injuries, the Dallas Mavericks could beat the Miami Heat in seven games. Jose Barea and Tyson Chandler could do this easily.

It is unfortunate for LeBron. He may have to wait a year or two more.

Citations

Huffington Post

huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/27/nba-finals-schedule-2011-_n_867972.html

Yahoo! Sports

sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ycn-8546101