Miami definitely has enough talent to win a title, but it’s important to keep in mind that they’ve not had much experience playing together. There are also questions about whether the ‘supporting cast’ for LeBron, Bosh and D-Wade are good enough to enable the team to live up to their lofty pre-season expectations. In addition, there have been some injury problems in preseason—Dwyane Wade has been hampered by a hamstring injury though he’s expected to play here. Power forward Mike Miller suffered a broken thumb in preseason and is sidelined indefinitely, which prompted the team to sign veteran Jerry Stackhouse as a replacement.

The Celtics will start the season without center Kendrick Perkins, who is recovering from knee surgery. In his place will be a pair of ‘O’Neals’—Shaquille O’Neal and Jermaine O’Neal. Jermaine has been dealing with back spasms during the preseason, but every indication is that Shaq will be the Celtics’ starting center on opening night. Boston signed one of LeBron’s former teammates in the offseason, but will be without Delonte West for 10 games due to a league mandated suspension for gun charges while in Cleveland. We’re going to look to play against Miami a lot in the early going this year.

Obviously they’re going to be a huge ‘public’ team, but they’ll have a target on their backs every night of the season—and especially against other top level teams. As noted above, it’s going to take time for them to ‘gel’ and get used to playing together. Assuming they can do this, they’ve definitely got the talent to contend for a NBA title but it’ll take awhile to get into top form. The Heat couldn’t have drawn a worse opening night matchup—they’re on the road against a proud Celtics’ team that may rightfully feel that they’ve been relegated to ‘also ran’ status by the hype surrounding Miami. LeBron is likely still having nightmares about the nasty team defense the Celtics brought against the Cavs during the playoffs last year, and it’ll be hard for his new team to match Boston’s intensity in their first regular season game. Look for the Celtics to win this one with defense.