MIAMI — Ray Allen didn't feel a chill Saturday, literally or figuratively.
Allen looked out a window at the AmericanAirlines Arena practice court. It suddenly hit him he wasn't in Boston anymore, having taken part in his first day of practice with the Miami Heat.
"I was down on that side of the floor and changing my uniform and I kind of glanced out the window and I saw some water and I was wondering where I was for a minute there, just knowing it's so nice outside and it's tropical," Allen said. "It is unusual because I've been in cold weather for a long time.''
The chill Allen also didn't claim to feel was one coming from Boston, where he played the previous five seasons. Some of his former Celtics teammates have let it be known they weren't pleased to see Allen bolt as a free agent in the offseason to the rival Heat.
Kevin Garnett fired the latest salvo on Friday.
"I don't have Ray's number anymore," the Boston center said. "I'm not trying to communicate. I'm just being honest."
On Saturday in Miami, Allen just shrugged it off.
"That's a shame," Allen said. "I'm a good person to talk to on the phone.
"I've been around long enough to know that when you speak, sometimes what you say, I don't know how many miles apart we are, sometimes the translation gets mixed up," Allen said. "If I even was still (with the Celtics), I probably wouldn't talk to him much over the summer. We're friends regardless of what happened. ... I'm not worried about it.''
The shooting guard claims his focus is on getting acclimated with his new team. But there's going to be to plenty of conversation for a while about Allen and the Celtics. The two Eastern Conference rivals meet in the regular-season opener in South Florida on Oct. 30. It will be interesting to see who wearing green shakes Allen's hand.
"I'm not really worried about it," Allen said of all negativity coming out of Boston. "I think I've been in weird trade situations over the last couple of years. You always felt like you had one foot in and one foot out."
That was a reference to the Celtics having tried at times late in his tenure to deal him. The trade rumors were one reason he decided to join Boston's biggest recent rival.
One thing is for sure. It's odd seeing Allen in a Heat uniform.
"It's strange," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. "I had that moment (at Friday's media day). I've been with him all summer. He's been in our gym. Until I actually saw the Heat across his chest, that was a kind of catch-you-by-surprise moment."
Another strange moment was seeing Allen shoot around with Heat stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Previously, that only happened at All-Star Games.
"It's like, 'Oh, wow,'" James said of seeing Allen in a Heat jersey.
"I don't think he's ever worn anything but green in his whole career in the NBA, so it's weird to see him in any other color," Wade said of Allen, who also had previous stops with gang greens Milwaukee and Seattle.
But Allen, 37, certainly isn't green when it comes to anything about the NBA. The 10-time All-Star has made more 3-pointers than any player in league history.
It hasn't taken long for Allen to impress the Heat. Even though he's not yet 100 percent following June surgery on his right ankle, he looked to be moving around much like the old Allen on Saturday.
"He did the whole practice," Spoelstra said. "He's going to make our defense better, no question about it. ... He just finds a way to get open and knocking those things down. He had our guys on ultra-alert trying to get to him. He's such a savvy, veteran player."
Allen isn't going to come anywhere near his 20.0 career scoring average this season, but he's still such a potent shooter he will keep defenses honest. James knows that can do nothing but help the Heat.
"We know how dangerous he is out on the floor," James said. "There's probably five guys in our whole league that, if they miss 20 shots in a row, you still believe the next one's going in."
Allen likely will never miss 20 in a row. He rarely missed when firing jumpers after practice Saturday.
Even though he said he still feels some soreness in his ankle, Allen stuck around to take on all challengers in shooting contests. Some Miami young guns had little chance against the master gunslinger.
"It's always great to be pushed to the limits after practice, being able to shoot with the young guys," Allen said. "You do free-throw games, shooting games. It definitely keeps me sharp and they want to beat me. I got to do everything I can to stay on top."
Allen's challenge also will be keeping the defending champion Heat on top. Boston is likely their primary challenger in the East.
Allen will run into the Celtics four times during the regular season. Stay tuned to see if he ever admits to feeling a chill from them.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at christomasson@hotmail.com or on Twitter @christomasson
