The NBA made it official on Friday: The league is going to make the Heat suffer the memory of last season’s collapse in the NBA Finals as much as possible.

As expected, the NBA is sending the Heat to Dallas for its season opener on Christmas Day, which means LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh will watch the Mavericks lift their championship banner into the rafters just before tipoff at 2:30 p.m. Up 2-1 against Dallas in last season’s championship series, the Heat imploded on its sport’s biggest stage and lost in six games.

Bosh summed up the return to Dallas appropriately on Friday after an individual workout at AmericanAirlines Arena.

“It’s going to [stink],” he said.

The experience should be especially searing for Bosh, who is from Dallas. So frustrated with last season’s loss in the Finals was Bosh that he only visited his native city for less than a week during the extended offseason.

With the lockout all but over, players began trickling back into the Heat’s basketball facility on Thursday and Friday. Training camps around the league begin on Dec. 9.

“I haven’t been in Dallas for Christmas in a couple years now and just to be there and have that effect going on at that time, I’m not going to like it,” Bosh said. “I spent less than a week at home this year for a bunch of different reasons. That was one of them. I didn’t even want to hear all the fans. It’s funny because there weren’t that many Mavericks fans when I was a kid, but now everybody is a Mavericks fan.”

Bosh said both teams will treat the season opener like a continuation of the last season’s Finals. Inevitably, talk veered toward the Heat’s collapse.

“The Finals, period, is a roller coaster,” Bosh said. “Being up 2-1 ... you’re that close to winning it all; you’re that close to losing it all. And you just have to play each game and each possession until it’s all over. I think that’s one thing that we can really teach ourselves — just stay tight until it’s all over.”

There is a touch of good news for the Heat. Dallas isn’t going to present its players with championship rings on opening day. Because the lockout, the Mavericks weren’t allowed to contact players about ring sizes, so the jewelry won’t be ready in time for Christmas.

Cuban is ‘crafty’

“The fact that they don’t get their rings, I think that’s cool,” Bosh said. “But Mark Cuban, he’s a crafty dude, so I’m sure he could make anything happen.”

The NBA will feature five games on Christmas Day. The Knicks and Celtics tip off the league’s shortened season at noon on TNT. The Heat and Mavericks are up next on ABC, followed by Bulls-Lakers. ESPN will air the final two games of the day: Magic at Thunder and Clippers at Warriors.

The NBA is expected to release each team’s 66-game schedule at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Heat announced Friday that it will play a two-game preseason against the Orlando Magic. The Heat is at home at 6 p.m. on Dec. 18 and travels to Orlando on Dec. 21. Tickets for the preseason home game go on sale online at noon Saturday.

Tough trifecta

The 66-game schedule has raised a few concerns among players. The truncated format likely will force each team to play at least one back-to-back-to-back set.

“Once we get into it, we can ask veterans for advice, but I’m thinking the usual stuff: take care of your body, make sure you get enough rest and just concentrate on one game at a time,” Bosh said. “I’m sure back-to-back-back is very tough, and everyone is going to see what it feels like.”

Free agent Juwan Howard, who is entering his 18th season in the league, remembers the grind of the 50-game schedule after the NBA lockout in 1999. Howard expects more injuries than normal, especially for players who report to training camp out of shape.

“If guys have been working out this offseason — and I think we’ve had plenty of time to get ready for the upcoming season — they won’t have problems with injuries,” said Howard, who hopes to rejoin the Heat this season.