NBA: 8 Must-Watch Games Of the 2013-14 Opening Week

January 29, 2012; Miami, FL, USA;Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) defends as Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose (1) drives the ball in the second half of the game that the Heat won 97 to 93 at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports

The NBA has now released the schedule for the 2013-14 regular season, and we have quite a few interesting matchups and storylines to look at. As always when the league releases the schedule for a new season, the hardcore NBA fans try to mitigate their growing abstinence of basketball by circling in the dates for some key games. That’s what we’ll do here.

The season will start Oct 29, with six teams stepping out on the NBA floor. After a long layoff away from basketball, NBA fans are obviously excited to see what kind of opening week matchups we will be able to see. We’ll obviously see the reigning NBA champions during opening night but there are some other really great games to look out for in the initial stages of the season — whether it’s a game between two teams that are likely to contend for a championship, or a playoff spot.

Here are the eight must-watch games of the opening week, which begins on Tuesday Oct 29 and ends on Sunday Nov 3.

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