The Miami Heat need a better matchup for opening night

The Miami Heat need play the Orlando Magic once again on opening night.

Every year, usually some time in October, the NBA begins its season-long campaign for NBA League Pass.

As the NBA’s official streaming service, League Pass is the hoop scholar’s platform of choice.

Featuring live feeds of nightly matchups, the $200 price tag is quickly justified. Together with national broadcasting, access to League Pass unlocks a full slate of 1230 NBA games, barring any local blackouts, of course.

The service’s usefulness is best realized at the start of the season.

When the NBA begins action in October, the NFL is in full swing. National broadcasters like ESPN split their time between coverage of both sports, meaning quality NBA games can get swept under the rug.

As the two sports jockey for the national spotlight this autumn, NBA League Pass will kick off the NBA season with a bang. After the season begins with a pair of games on October 16, 22 teams will play the following night, 18 of which will be broadcast on League Pass.

But while subscribers are likely to tune into the Minnesota Timberwolves playing the San Antonio Spurs or the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors, the Miami Heat will once again toil away against the Orlando Magic.

For the third straight season, the Heat face the Magic. For the third straight season, the Heat will open its season in Orlando. And for the third straight season, a team that won more than 40 games each season (Miami), will face a team that can’t even crack 30 (Magic).

This is the basketball equivalent of The Walt Disney Company remaking Freaky Friday. Yes, Disney did it again, but definitely didn’t need to.

Opening night in the NBA serves two purposes.

For some teams, the first game is a showcase of things to come, a sampler of a potential rivalry or a prelude to a playoff matchup. Teams like the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and Golden State Warriors get that kind of treatment, usually with nationally televised games in prime time slots.

For everyone else however, opening night is just one-82nd of the requisite schedule. Not dictated by player beefs or marketing opportunities, the Miami Heat are simply playing a game on opening night.

Admittedly, playing the Magic in the opener is a good warmup for the season. It’s a low-pressure game. The Magic, a team in the Southeast division with Miami, is rarely in contention for the playoffs. Thus, it’s unlikely that a Heat-Magic tiebreaker comes into play in April.

Essentially, this game doesn’t really matter.

But such a lackadaisical start to the season does little to drum up interest in one of the NBA’s most historic franchises and perennial playoff teams.

Worse, it doesn’t play up any of the rivalries Miami tends to nurture throughout the year.

The Heat regularly butt heads with the Raptors and Sixers. Even the Milwaukee Bucks have some competition with Miami, considering how closely they tend to place in the postseason.

Instead, the Association prefers to force the Heat-Magic matchup, starting the year with a flavorless Florida game that is quickly forgotten come November.

Though opening night has been an affront against Miami in the Post-Lebron James era, the team’s growth has been respectable. Miami has ushered in a new group of young prospects, that has found success against even the most talented teams.

Opening night might not be the most exciting this year, but the Heat will have plenty to prove all season long.