Courtesy of Seatwave.com

By: Dan Massar, YawkeyTalkies Correspondent

The Celtics season starts tonight!  Lets take a look at the schedule  and pick out the best games.  Here are 10 key games to watch, starting with tonight’s:

1.      October 27 at Cleveland: This is the opening game for the 09-10 NBA season.  Not a bad way for the league to open things up.  The Celtics begin their quest to regain the championship against a hungry Cavaliers team that added Shaquille O’Neal in the offseason.  Could be an Eastern Conference Finals preview.  Then again everyone said that last season before the Magic crashed the party.

2.      October 30 vs. Bulls: Last time we saw the Bulls they were pushing the Celtics to the brink in a wild 7 game first-round series.  It was arguably the best first round series in NBA history.  The Bulls could be a team on the rise, though they will miss Ben Gordon who left Chicago for Detroit.  The theme of the playoff tilt was overtime.  There were 7 overtime periods in the series, an NBA record. So, expect it to be close.

3.      November 20 vs. Magic: The first match-up between the two squads since the 7 game second round struggle.  It didn’t feature 7 overtimes, but it was still an entertaining series.  The Magic won game 7 in Boston with a big 4th quarter run.  The Celts will be looking to show the defending Eastern Conference Champs that they are still the “beasts of the east.”

4.      December 3 at Spurs: San Antonio added some nice pieces in the offseason.  A trade brought in Richard Jefferson from Milwaukee and they signed veteran power forward Antonio McDyess.  This could be an NBA Finals preview.  Tim Duncan vs. Kevin Garnett is always a fun matchup to watch.

5.      December 25 at Magic: The second battle with the Magic comes on Christmas Day.  This is game 1 of an ABC doubleheader that features the Lakers vs. Cavaliers in game 2.  Hopefully Rasheed Wallace is on his best behavior for the holiday.

6.      January 11 vs. Hawks: The Hawks showed they belonged in the playoffs two years ago when they stretched the Celtics to 7 games in the first round.  The Celtics went on to win the title after demolishing Atlanta in game 7.  The Hawks went on to have a strong season last year that featured a first round series win.  The Hawks will be looking to take another step forward this season.  It will be interesting to see how the veteran and aging Celtics handle the versatile and athletic Hawks.

7.      January 31 vs. Lakers: The potential NBA Finals preview that really gets David Stern excited.  This matchup features the last two NBA Champions.  It will be fascinating to see what Wallace and Ron Artest add to the rivalry.  A lot of passion, yelling and great basketball would be a safe bet.

8.     February 18 at Lakers: The rematch comes only 19 days after their first meeting in Boston.  It will be the third game of a 5 game west coast trip for the Celtics.  Portland will be waiting the next night with Denver on Sunday.  That is arguably the toughest 3 game stretch of the season for Boston.

9.     February 21 at Nuggets: Here’s that game at Denver.  Yes, this is another possibly NBA Finals preview.  The Nuggets surprised a lot of people last season with a tremendous regular season and then very solid postseason, which ended in a 6 game series loss to the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.  Denver is a fun team to watch and this game should be a great way to spend a cold February Sunday afternoon, inside.

10.     March 14 at Cavaliers: At this point, the top seed in the East could be in reach for both of these teams.  After this game there will be exactly one month left in the regular season so this game will kick off the stretch run.

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