The NBA season lasts 82 games. That’s a lot of games. When a season lasts that long, it’s not unreasonable to say that the first game of the season is … well … worthless. Somehow I don’t think that’s going to be the case for the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics come October 26, 2010. The NBA announced on Tuesday that the Heat will visit the Garden for the opening game of the 2010-2011 NBA season, which will be aired on TNT.
This is a great move for the NBA. Say what you will about the aging Celtics, but a 2010 Eastern Conference title says they’re the team to beat in the East until further notice. The Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen have won an NBA championship and appeared in two NBA Finals in the last three years. They’re tried. They’re tested. They define the term “savvy veteran” in every sense of the term.
On paper, the Miami Heat are the best team in the NBA — by far. You could take Chris Bosh out of their lineup and they’d still compete for that title. What makes this match-up so intriguing is that when the new Heat arrive in Boston on October 26, they’ll yet to have played a single game together. They haven’t done much of anything together aside from dancing on stage in South Beach. If Kendrick Perkins returns from the knee injury he suffered in the NBA Finals last season, the Celtics will be returning all five starters for the third straight season.
Don’t confuse what I’m trying to say. I don’t think the Celtics are a better team than the Heat at this point, regardless of how many games they’ve played together. The point I’m trying to make is that as far as season openers go, you won’t see a team with a chance to prove more in one game than the Heat have been given the opportunity to prove. Facing the team that has been the best in the Eastern Conference over most of the last three seasons is a test in itself, let alone on the road in one of the most hostile environments in basketball.
Boston fans are going to do their best to rip LeBron James to shreds when he arrives at the Garden. The noise will be deafening, the chants will be classless, and the hype will be unmatched. If the Heat can come out and beat the Green to begin their campaign, they can send a message to the rest of the NBA right away. That message will be that they’re more than just a list of all-star names and they aren’t going to be intimated. If the Celtics win, they’re showing the league they’re not done quite yet. Would a victory secure either team a spot in the NBA Finals? Not even close. It would, however, send as much of a statement as a team can send one game into a season.
Source:
It’s official: C’s vs. Heat to open season [ESPN Boston]
