By Miguel Rapetti
05 Jun 2024, 11:41 PM EDT
Manchester City coach, Pep Guardiola, is enjoying a well-deserved vacation after triumphing in the Premier League with his fourth consecutive league title and took advantage of the end of the club season to travel to Boston in advance of the NBA finals between Celtics and Dallas Mavericks.
Reports from this same Wednesday showed Guardiola on the TD Garden field sharing with the Celtics coach, Joe Mazzulla, to whom he returned the visit that Mazzulla had had when he visited the Manchester City facilities last February.
On that occasion, the Catalan received the Boston coach and both gave each other shirts from their respective teams.
Now, both Guardiola and Mazzulla enjoyed a productive chat during one of the Celtics’ training sessions in the middle of the court, in which they were seen talking about tactics and collective play just one day before the start of the final.
Joe Mazzulla is talking to Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.
Intimate conversation. Mazzulla has talked about studying other sports and applying it to 🏀 pic.twitter.com/K92xtzCVL2
— Morey Hershgordon (@MHershgordon) June 5, 2024
In fact, Guardiola’s visit sparked so much interest in the media that his presence was one of the questions Mazzulla was asked during the press conference prior to Game 1.
Some journalists wanted to know about the value that the Celtics strategist gave to his meeting with Guardiola, especially taking into account that they are different sports, but Mazzulla is clear that the things that lead to success are similar regardless of the discipline.
“I think the things that lead to success are the same. You are in locker rooms, regardless of what sport it is, or even when you are in a company and everyone says the same thing,” said the Boston coach.
He also took advantage of highlighting the importance of continuing to learn when everyone assumes that they already have knowledge.
“Toughness, unity, connection, the mentality you bring. Is the same. It’s just a matter of getting the right group of people in the right place and then trying to feed that mentality every day. You can learn from anything and everything. You try to be as open-minded as you can,” she added.
The TD Garden will host the first game of the Finals between the Celtics and the Mavericks this Thursday. The second game will be played on Sunday also at this stadium before the series travels to Dallas.
With the home court factor in their favor and after clearly being the best team during the regular season (64-18), the Celtics start as favorites and could win their 18th ring, which would allow them to break the tie with their eternal rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers ( 17).
Keep reading:
- Pep Guardiola is the best coach in the Premier League: “We will defend this award in the future”
- Pep Guardiola took the blame for Manchester City’s defeat: “My game plan was not good”
- Manchester City sues the Premier League seeking to change its financial rules