Heat to face Celtics in Eastern Conference finals. Here’s an early look at the matchup

A new chapter in the Miami Heat-Boston Celtics rivalry is about to begin.

The Eastern Conference finals will feature a best-of-7 series between the fifth-seeded Heat and third-seeded Celtics at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista. It marks the fourth time Miami and Boston have faced off in the playoffs, and the second time the two teams have met in the conference finals.

The Celtics defeated the second-seeded Toronto Raptors 92-87 in Game 7 on Friday night to win their second-round series 4-3 and clinch a matchup against the Heat in the East finals. Miami finished its 4-1 second-round victory over the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.

The NBA announced dates for the first three games of the Heat-Celtics series, with Game 1 to be played Tuesday at either 6:30 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. The contest will begin at 6:30 p.m. if a Game 7 is necessary in the Los Angeles Clippers-Denver Nuggets series.

Game 2 will be Thursday with the time still to be determined and Game 3 will be Saturday at 8:30 p.m. All East finals games will be on ESPN.

The Heat has six days between series to prepare for the conference finals, while the Celtics have three days after their second-round series went to Game 7.

“We’re going to just take our time, rest our bodies up,” Boston guard Kemba Walker said following Friday’s win to advance to the East finals. “Take a few days and get prepared for a great team. Those guys, [the Heat] balled last series, man. Those guys are nothing to play with.”

In the previous three playoff series between the Heat and Celtics, Miami won two of them. The Celtics won a first-round series against the Heat in 2010, but Miami won the next two playoff series against Boston during the Big 3 era (a second-round series in 2011 and the conference finals in 2012).

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