Setting the scene for Boston Celtics opening night

It is now set in stone who the Boston Celtics will be facing for their season-opener. The Houdini is here to set the scene for an unforgettable opening night.

There were few opponents the NBA could have given the Boston Celtics for opening night that would have been a better test than the Philadelphia 76ers. Seen as the league’s preeminent team, Philadelphia will test everything about this Boston team before most of the world adjusts to the NBA being back.

On October 23rd, the Boston Celtics will be marching into the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia as underdogs. The 76ers, like the Celtics, made the second round of last year’s playoffs. Unlike Boston, they were on the brink of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals before Kawhi Leonard’s buzzer-beater ended the Jimmy Butler-era in Philadelphia.

Over the offseason, the 76ers managed to get scarier despite losing a legitimate top 15 player in the NBA. And it came at Boston’s expense.

Al Horford is the newest member of the Philadelphia front-court, and in tandem with Joel Embiid, the two form a two-headed monster on the block that will undoubtedly give an undermanned Boston Celtics front-court fits. Enes Kanter, Robert Williams, Daniel Theis and Vincent Poirier figure to be exposed by the versatile Horford and flat out dominated by the massive Embiid.

It may not be all bad on opening night, however. Kemba Walker will be making his regular season debut, and don’t forget that just last November, he dropped 60 points on Philadelphia (somewhat not shockingly in a loss). Elsewhere, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (and potentially Marcus Smart) will be making their first regular season appearances following stints on Team USA for the FIBA World Cup.

The 76ers aren’t my first choice for an opening  night game. A revenge game against Milwaukee would have been the best way to exorcise the demons of last season. But with Philadelphia in the crosshairs, Boston Celtics fans will be able to face some ugly truths as the season first gets off the ground.

Obviously, the primary issue that will be addressed is the front-court. It’d be a minor miracle if Embiid and Horford didn’t swallow the Celtics big man corps whole. It’s important for fans to realize this will be what holds the team back from truly contending if it isn’t fixed.

With such a glaring hole being exploited put of the gates, proper expectations for the season will be set. If the team pulls it out on opening night, expect a herculean effort from the bench, which figures to be far superior to not only Philadelphia’s second unit but much of the league’s bench corps as well. If not, well that isn’t the end of the world either.

The 2012-13 New York Knicks are a classic example of a team starting off hot and ignoring its own flaws. They were old, slow and oversized. This year’s Boston Celtics team figures to have the exact opposite problem.

But a problem is a problem and it is good that the schedule-makers wanted Celtics fans to realize their team’s issues before getting too ahead of themselves.