- The Manchester City coach wore a Boston Celtics hoodie for the occasion
- Earlier this week, Guardiola gave a talk to Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla.
Pep Guardiola enjoyed the action from the stands instead of the bench for once as he enjoyed the NBA Finals on Thursday night.
The Manchester City manager appears to be enjoying his break from the Premier League after his team made history with their fourth consecutive title.
The Spaniard was at the TD Garden for the first game of the NBA Finals series between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks.
And it was immediately clear who Guardiola was rooting for, as he was wearing a Celtics hoodie while sitting courtside.
The Spaniard has previously spoken about how he has turned to the world of tennis and basketball to understand how to improve his own teams.
Pep Guardiola watched game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Mavericks
“Incredible athletes, (Roger) Federer, (Novak) Djokovic, (Rafa) Nadal,” Guardiola said.
‘The greatest dynasties in the NBA’. It’s not easy in the NBA to have a team like the Chicago Bulls with (Michael) Jordan. I’m not comparing myself to that, don’t get me wrong. “The NBA has a lot of clubs with two or three in a row.”
Guardiola was seen chatting with Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla on Wednesday at TD Garden with the two exchanging jerseys.
Mazzulla, 35, is the youngest head coach since Bill Russell to reach the NBA Finals, with his team set to take on the Dallas Mavericks.
The day before that clash, the basketball coach met Guardiola on the TD Garden court, who was deep in conversation with the American.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager, who won six Premier League titles and three Champions Leagues during his coaching career, made an animated gesture as he appeared to wave his hands at the coach.
We have seen the Spaniard perform similar acts with his players during the 2023-24 season, notably giving a passionate training talk with Jack Grealish after City’s 0-0 draw against Arsenal.
While several members of his team will travel to Germany for this summer’s European Championships, Guardiola has flown to the United States to meet Mazzulla, having hosted the basketball coach at the Etihad Campus in February.
That day, Guardiola was seen chatting with Mazzulla at City’s training ground, and the Premier League football manager appeared again to impart snippets of information to the basketball manager.
Guardiola (right) appeared to reunite with Mazzulla (left) at TD Garden before the Boston Celtics’ NBA Finals opener.
Mazzulla (pictured) is the youngest coach to appear in the NBA Finals since Bill Russell.
The Boston Celtics coach (right) met Pep Guardiola (left) at City’s training base in February.
A week later, Mazzulla, a huge football fan, told The Athletic that Guardiola was “the best coach at any level in the sport.”
“For me, that’s what basketball and counterattacking in football are all about,” he told the outlet when talking about how he wants to implement the same philosophies in his team that Guardiola offers to Manchester City.
‘So I study a lot about Man City. I study Pep a lot. I think he is the best coach at any level, in any sport. He’s had a big influence (on me).’
This week, they were also photographed exchanging their respective teams’ jerseys, with Guardiola holding up a green Celtics jersey.
