What Celtics Can Expect From Nuggets In Abu Dhabi Preseason Matchups

The Boston Celtics are scheduled to open up their 2024-25 run at TD Garden on Oct. 22, but first, the reigning champs must go head-to-head with the Denver Nuggets twice to begin their five-game preseason in Abu Dhabi.

It’ll be quite the challenge for the defending champs to take on the only team that swept the Celtics during their regular-season series, and the team viewed as Boston’s biggest threat within the Western Conference last season.

Denver is just two years removed from its NBA title victory and haven’t endured any major roster changes hindering its chances from another run this go-around. The Nuggets, as a matter of fact, don’t intend on treating the Abu Dhabi exhibitions as anything less than a chance to begin what they’ll treat the upcoming season as: redemption.

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“You have 29 teams that are coming for you every night,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone told reporters in Abu Dhabi, per The National News. “And then I think the biggest thing I learned (from winning a title) is that the physical, emotional, spiritual toll it takes on you when you win a championship and having to regroup and do that again, it can be exhausting. But I tell you, we’ve had a great training camp so far and I think our guys are excited to try to get back and take what Boston has, as well as every other team in the league but they did a great job last year. Give the Celtics credit, they’re a hell of a team and we look forward to competing against them here.”

Malone and the Nuggets know just how difficult chasing a repeat is. Denver finished tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the second-best record in the NBA last season — right behind 64-18 Boston — before falling to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the conference semifinals round. The Nuggets had high hopes, expectations and even more hype than the Celtics, and like Boston, none of it has gone anywhere. So while it’ll be the Celtics who open up their clean slate in banner-raising fashion, over their shoulders sit the Nuggets and 28 others salivating at the chance to dethrone Boston.

“There’s a lot of good teams in the NBA this year,” Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. said, per The National News. “The energy and the hunger has been there. We have a lot of motivation coming off of last year and guys like Russell (Westbrook), guys like Dario (Šarić) just add to that. … We’re all very motivated to win a championship this year and we’re ready to get it going.”

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla already set the record straight on the “target” placed on Boston’s back, welcoming the challenge. Mazzulla’s out-of-the-box coaching style comes from an open-minded, student-first lens. The Celtics didn’t — and don’t plan to — back down to any challenge that presents itself, setting in stone a perspective that last season isn’t this season, so regardless of what Denver has in store, expect Boston to be ready. Like the Nuggets, the defending champs are excited, too.

“I think it’s awesome the last two champions get to play and globalize the game here in Abu Dhabi, which is an amazing place,” Brown told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston. “I think it’s very fitting, and I think the NBA did a good job of setting it up.”

Granted, all signs point toward Boston taking an identical approach. The Celtics attacked the NBA Cup — formerly known as the In-Season Tournament — last year, even when it slated them to face the subpar Chicago Bulls in November. Boston didn’t skip any steps last season, play down to its competition or undergo any notable cold stretches and it paid off. Therefore, even though preseason is up next, the overly-psychotic mindset that is Mazzulla at the helm, likely won’t treat Abu Dhabi like a vacation either.

Boston and Denver square off on Friday at 12 p.m. ET and again Sunday at 10 a.m.