With only a week to go until the start of the regular season, the Boston Celtics are nearly done with their preseason schedule. They’ve already played three of their four games, winning two and losing the third by just two points.
The Celtics wrap up their preseason slate on Wednesday at home against the Toronto Raptors, then they get a week off before their season opener versus the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden on Oct. 22.
Boston’s brief preseason schedule can’t end fast enough for Joe Mazzulla, who revealed his true feelings about NBA preseason games during Tuesday’s press conference.
Joe Mazzulla to @RealBobManning on difference between camp practice/preseason: "I hate preseason games. We should just have practice for a month straight."
–@CLNSMedia pic.twitter.com/zAyDGgEQZB
— Celtics on CLNS (@CelticsCLNS) October 14, 2025
“I’d rather have no preseason games and practice every day. I hate preseason games. We should just have practice for a month straight,” Mazzulla told reporters.
When asked why, Mazzulla explained his rationale.
“At the end of the day, it’s a preseason game. To me, you come in here and practice, and you work,” Mazzulla said. “The idea is to try to make the preseason game as close to practice as you can. Because you’re always going through things — who’s on a minutes restriction, who may be sitting out, trying to save yourselves for the regular season, all those things which are important.”
Instead of meaningless exhibition games, Mazzulla added that he would rather just have around 30 practices to prepare for the season opener.
Mazzulla’s right in that preseason games disrupt the flow of training camp and ultimately give players less time to prepare for the season, as many play restricted minutes during preseason games or sit out entirely to avoid injury and save themselves for the season. Practice can be more intense and beneficial to players as a better use of their time than preseason games, which nobody really takes seriously because they don’t count.
That said, it’s still good for players to play together in a simulated game setting in an NBA arena in front of fans, especially when new teammates are learning how to play together and coaches are trying to figure out which rotations work best. Preseason games may not be the best use of time, but they do have value, especially for rookies and young players.
Fortunately for Mazzulla, the Celtics only have one more preseason game to go, then they can get back to practicing as they try to iron out any remaining kinks before the real games begin.
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