The Boston Celtics are just over a week away from kicking off their 2025-26 NBA season with a home game against the Philadelphia 76ers. This season will be a good test for head coach Joe Mazzulla, who will no longer have a supremely talented roster at his disposal and may have to churn out more X's and O's instead of relying simply on the run and gun style that can work when Jayson Tatum is leading the charge.
The Celtics have been busy with preseason in recent weeks, but one person who is not a fan of those festivities is Mazzulla himself.
“I’d rather have no preseason games and practice every day. I hate preseason games,” said Mazzulla, per Jay King of The Athletic on X, formerly Twitter.
Mazzulla has long been known for his at times unorthodox approaches to coaching, sidestepping traditional methods in the hopes of getting his team a mental edge above the competition.
While the NBA preseason can be an effective way to try out plays and lineup configurations, it certainly doesn't beat an effective session of practice.
How far can the Celtics go?
This season, the Boston Celtics will be taking the court not only without the injured Jayson Tatum but also without Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, each of whom was traded to help the team's ownership duck the dreaded second apron.
In a weak Eastern Conference, it's possible that the combination of Derrick White and Jaylen Brown alone could be enough to get the Celtics to the postseason, combined with a potential scoring punch from trade acquisition Anfernee Simons. However, Mazzulla will have to do the best coaching of his career in order to get this talent-deficient group into the top six of the conference and avoid a trip to the play-in round.
In any case, the Celtics are set to get their season underway on October 22 at home against the divisional rival Philadelphia 76ers. That game is slated to tip off at 7:30 PM ET from Boston.
