Miami Heat and Boston Celtics Reportedly Will Open 2012-13 NBA Schedule

The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat have no shortage of bad blood, and plenty of intriguing storylines surround every single one of the meetings between the two teams.

Fittingly, the schedule makers decided to pit the 2012 NBA champions against the Eastern Conference Finals' runners-up to open the season on Oct. 30.

Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel was first to report this exciting matchup to start the 2012-13 campaign off right.

Aside from Miami fans getting to watch their team receive championship rings at American Airlines Arena, the most anticipated subplot to this game will be Ray Allen’s debut in a Heat jersey.

The NBA’s all-time leading three-point shooter spent the past five years in Boston, but defected to South Beach this summer after falling short during his quest for a second title with the Celtics.

It’s going to be a bitter sight for many C’s fans who spent the past half decade rooting for Jesus Shuttlesworth and suffered through back-to-back defeats to the Heat. They pushed their rival to seven games this past postseason and had a real chance to steal the series.

Boston acquired free-agent guards Jason Terry and Courtney Lee to counteract the loss of Allen’s long-range sniping ability, but it’ll still be a tough pill for the Celtics supporters to swallow.

On the flip side, the Miami Heat have to be extremely happy that they were able to pull off a summer coup to land Allen on a three-year deal for the mini-midlevel exception of just over $3 million per season.

They also added a stretch 4-man that can hit threes in Rashard Lewis.

This upcoming season should be another great one and it’s going to get started on the right foot when the C’s and Heat collide in late October. 

Keep it tuned here on B/R for the latest news, opinions, updates and analysis on the NBA schedule.