The NBA has yet to release the full details of the 2022-23 NBA season schedule, but Shams Charania of The Athletic has already been busy spilling out dates of key NBA games. In one of his latest updates, Charania revealed that Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks will play their first game of the season against Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers on the road on Oct. 20. Aside from that Bucks vs. Sixers tilt, Charania also bared that the Boston Celtics will lock horns with the Miami Heat on Oct. 21.

Those are salivating matchups, to say the least. Both the Bucks and the Sixers were not able to progress beyond the second round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs, but must still be viewed as among the chief contenders not only for the Eastern Conference title but for the Larry O'Brien Trophy as well.

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Meanwhile, the matchup between the Celtics and the Heat is arguably hotter. For one, as Charania noted, this is a rematch between teams that threw haymakers at each other in the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals, with the Celtics coming out on top after seven games to book a ticket to the 2022 NBA Finals. The Celtics would later lose to Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in six games, much to the annoyance of the Heat who certainly believed they could have done better.

The 2022-23 NBA season is reportedly set to begin on Oct. 18, with the Celtics taking on the Sixers and the Los Angeles Lakers testing the mettle of the reigning NBA champions, Warriors, in the other contest.