The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat meet Tuesday in the NBA season opener at 8 p.m.. We have a live chat and game thread here, with commentary beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat meet Tuesday at 8 p.m. in the NBA season opener, with the obvious story line being:
This Eastern Conference Finals rematch pits Ray Allen against his former team, on the night Miami receives its NBA championship rings, which the Celtics believe should be theirs since they had two chances to advance to the NBA Finals, where the Heat eventually trounced the Oklahoma City Thunder.
(Taking a deep breath after that sentence before continuing.)
(Okay, ready.)
The two teams hold a great amount of respect for each other, but will still want to steal each other's proverbial lunch, give each other proverbial noogies and lock each other into proverbial lockers on Tuesday night. The Celtics have discussed the Heat on a daily basis since reconvening for this season, and they boosted their versatility largely in an effort to match up with Miami -- though they won't admit to building a roster with LeBron James squarely in mind, it's obvious the Celtics did their best to assemble a number of wings with the size and athleticism to attempt containing the MVP.
The NBA championship surely won't be decided Tuesday, nor will Tuesday's results wildly swing the pendulum of public opinion regarding who should be front-runner in the Eastern Conference (regardless of who wins Tuesday, Miami will remain the defending champions with basketball's best player).
But we will get our first regular-season looks at Boston's improved depth, Allen in a Heat jersey and James with an NBA title among his accomplishments. At the very least, basketball has returned.