The Boston Celtics just won their 18th championship in franchise history, but that doesn’t matter anymore. It’s a new season, and the Celtics are focused on the goal in front of them—winning another title. And it all starts with the preseason, which looks a bit different for them heading into this year.
Rather than playing at home, the Celtics will be taking on the Denver Nuggets in Abu Dhabi for a pair of preseason games on October 4 and 6. But these games aren’t like every other preseason game. These are going to mean a bit more, especially for the Celtics.
And here are the three reasons why.
1. Celtics didn’t beat Nuggets last season
The Celtics were the most dominant team in the league last year. They went 64-18 in the regular season and 16-3 in the postseason, accumulating a total record of 80-21.
Throughout their entire campaign, they got at least one win over 28 of the other 29 teams. The only team they didn’t beat was the Nuggets, who defeated them both times the two sides played.
Obviously, the preseason doesn’t matter as much as the regular season, but as Joe Mazzulla looks to find extra motivation for his squad, that should be enough.
2. Amplifying in Abu Dhabi
This is a bit of an obvious one, but the NBA is going to want the stars to shine while the Celtics and Nuggets are playing in Abu Dhabi, as it’s clearly a market they want to capture.
Usually, star players don’t play much in the preseason. But as the Celtics and Nuggets are playing overseas, the league will probably want guys like Jayson Tatum and Nikola Jokic to at least play a bit.
So, with that in mind, these games could see a bit more star power than others.
3. Chance to evaluate big men
Kristaps Porzingis is going to miss a bunch of time to start the season, meaning the Celtics will have to rely on guys like Xavier Tillman, Neemias Queta, and Luke Kornet to play big minutes behind Al Horford.
This could be a perfect opportunity to see how those guys hold up.
Mazzulla could let all of those guys get some reps against Jokic, who is the best player in the world. What better way to gauge how ready they are for NBA action?
On top of that, once the starters inevitably hit the pine, those guys will get extended run, and that will be a good time for them to be evaluated even more.