BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics shuffled their itinerary earlier this week and moved their flight to Miami up to Sunday night in advance of Tuesday's season opener against the Heat.

With Hurricane Sandy invading the region, the Celtics scrapped their plan to fly out after Monday's practice. Instead, they'll get to Miami a day early and practice at AmericanAirlines Arena on Monday morning.

"Our crack security -- Phil Lynch [the team's director of security] -- I think he’s our weatherman too. He called me like four days ago because he was tracking the storm -- I didn’t know that’s what he does. But he was right, I’ll give him that. And we just want to get out. When you go to Florida, it’s a long flight to begin with, especially Miami -- 3½ hours. So we didn’t want to get caught or get stuck on a plane all afternoon tomorrow. And our guys are not complaining about going to Miami. It’s amazing how they all agree on that."

The Celtics will get a playoff-like stay in Miami, electing to take advantage of two offdays that follow Tuesday's contest and fly back to Boston on Wednesday. But make no mistake, this is a business trip.

"We get a chance to get down there, get some practice time," captain Paul Pierce said. "We’re focused on basketball right now."