The 2010-2011 NBA season is still a few months away as it is set to begin on October 26^th, but the league has already decided which teams will usher in the new season by scheduling the revamped Miami Heat and the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics to go head to head five days before Halloween.

No team in the NBA got more media exposure or went through more drastic changes throughout the offseason this summer than the Miami Heat. Not only were they able to re-sign their face of the franchise in Dwyane Wade, but they turned their roster into one of the most feared in the league with the addition of superstars Chris Bosh and LeBron James.

It still remains to be seen whether or not this new NBA superstar combination will work in South Beach, but D-Wade, LeBron and Bosh will get their first real test immediately entering the 2010-2011 NBA regulars season by going up against arguably the best defense in the NBA in the Boston Celtics.

This will be a very intriguing matchup as this could very well be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals next summer, but what everyone will be waiting to see is how these three NBA superstars will play together against the Boston Celtics suffocating defense.

The one key element of the Celtics defense that the Miami Heat will not be facing on October 26^th is center Kendrick Perkins. The hot headed center may not be amongst the league’s elite at his position like Dwight Howard, Andrew Bogut and Yao Ming, but he is a force to be reckoned with on the defensive end of the basketball floor and will be sorely missed by the Celtics in the first game of the season.

Personally, I would have loved to have seen the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers taking on the Miami Heat to open the season, but a matchup against the Boston Celtics might be just as good if not better!

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