The NBA released its regular-season schedule Thursday afternoon, and the defending champion Celtics start with another thriller. The Knicks appear to be the Celtics’ biggest threat in the East once again, trading for Mikal Bridges while losing center Isaiah Hartenstein this summer. The NBA is making sure that rivalry is front and center this season, as the Knicks come to Boston on Oct. 22 for the first game of the NBA regular season.
That will be ring night and should be an exciting game. This is the third time in four seasons these teams open their seasons against each other, with Boston winning a close one in New York last year and the Knicks winning the Evan Fournier revenge game with a double-overtime victory in Oct. 2021. The Knicks have revamped their roster over the past year to match up against the Celtics’ versatility, so this season will open with a good test for the defending champs.
Another key early game comes on Nov. 6, as Steve Kerr and the Warriors come to Boston. Jayson Tatum should be able to see the floor that night.
The Celtics will play on the major networks — TNT, ESPN, and ABC — 26 times this season, trailing only the Lakers (28) for the most in the league. They are tied with the Lakers for most ABC games (six), while Boston also plays on NBA TV eight times this season. Their final regular-season game on TNT with the “Inside the NBA” crew comes on April 8, their last trip to battle the reloaded Knicks at Madison Square Garden before the playoffs. NBC and Amazon Prime will replace TNT as the secondary broadcasters to ABC/ESPN when the new TV deal begins following this season.
February will be Boston’s chance to shine on the national stage, as seven of its 11 games are on national TV. That month features a pair of games against each of the Knicks, 76ers and Cavaliers, plus Victor Wenbanyama’s lone visit of the year with the Spurs. But the highlight comes on Feb. 6, when the Mavericks return to Boston, where they watched the confetti fall as the Celtics hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy.
The Celtics celebrate winning the 2024 NBA championship in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A long winter on the road
December wraps up with an exciting homestand as the reloaded 76ers visit for the marquee 5 p.m. Christmas Day game on ABC, followed by two games against Indiana and a New Year’s Eve matinee hosting Toronto.
But once the new year begins, the Celtics will hardly see home. January starts with a gauntlet trip to Minnesota on Jan. 2, then they’re off to Houston to see former coach Ime Udoka the next night. That might be the easy part. Next up is a 3:30 p.m. ET game at Oklahoma City before a 10 p.m. ET start in Denver. This could be Kristaps Porziņģis’ return window, timed perfectly as Boston faces three of the best teams in the West.
The Celtics will host Atlanta on MLK Day, then comes NBA Rivalry Week. They visit the Lakers on Jan. 23 on TNT, then head to Dallas for their first NBA Finals rematch on Jan. 25 at 5:30 ET on ABC.
January may be their toughest month, with three of their 13 back-to-backs. But in February, the Celtics play three games at home before a lopsided March reminiscent of last December. The Celtics open the month with a seven-game homestand, starting with Cleveland on Feb. 28 and wrapping with Oklahoma City on March 12. They then welcome in spring with a six-game western conference road trip starting with a March 21 visit to Utah.
Hello, old friends
While the Celtics will go visit Charlotte a few weeks into the season to see former assistants Charles Lee, Jermaine Bucknor and Blaine Mueller now that Lee has taken over as Hornets head coach, Celtics fans won’t be able to welcome them back until the last two games of the season. In years past, the Celtics typically would play consecutive games against the Hornets in the preseason. That trend ended this year, but they face off for a back-to-back to open November and wrap up the regular season at the Garden on April 11 and 13.
Marcus Smart missed Memphis’ lone trip to Boston last season due to a finger injury, though he did get a standing ovation. On Dec. 7, Celtics fans will get a chance to boo him when he dives for a loose ball or flops to for an offensive foul. That should be fun.
The lone reunion from last year’s roster on the schedule is when Svi Mykhailiuk’s Utah Jazz visit on March 10. The shooting guard signed a four-year deal with Danny Ainge and the Jazz earlier this week, with a first-year guarantee. Oshae Brissett, the other Celtics player who hasn’t returned from last season’s roster, remains a free agent.
The long wait for Porziņģis
After having offseason ankle surgery, Porziņģis might be out for most, if not all, of December. That means 38-year-old Al Horford will start at the five, and then a group of Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman Sr. and Neemias Queta will rotate in the backup role.
The Celtics have their NBA Cup group-stage games on Nov. 12 hosting Atlanta, Nov. 19 hosting Cleveland, Nov. 22 at Washington, and then Nov. 29 at Chicago. If they advance to the NBA Cup in Las Vegas, that will last from Dec. 10-17. That’s when the potential Porziņģis return window starts to near. But when the NBA Cup ends, they’ll face Chicago twice, visit Orlando, then have a week at home against Philadelphia, Indiana twice, and then Toronto. That’s a lot of teams who can play big and physical, testing that center depth. Perhaps Porziņģis can make it back at some point of that stretch, particularly during that tough homestand.
The real tough part will be when Horford sits one leg of the five back-to-backs over the five weeks from Nov. 1 to Dec. 7. It starts with two games in Charlotte against coach Lee and Grant Williams, who know Boston’s center rotation better than anyone. Then, they’ll host Atlanta before playing Brooklyn the next night, facing teams with athletic bigs who can draw attention rolling through the paint. On the last Sunday of November, they host the Wolves’ dominant frontcourt before the Clippers come to town.
(Top photo of Kristaps Porziņģis and Jayson Tatum: Elsa/Getty Images)
