The Celtics look forward to getting back on the floor at TD Garden on Saturday

“I’m excited,” guard Derrick White said. “I actually haven’t been back since the parade so I’m looking forward to being back in the garden.

“And I was telling some of my people that normally in the preseason, like everywhere else, the energy in the arena has kind of gone down. But things always go up in Boston. And that's why I don't think it will be any different this year. There will probably be more. That’s why I’m looking forward to it.”

There will be opportunities for nostalgia in the coming weeks, and some will be inevitable. When the players receive their championship rings and watch the banner being raised before the game against the Knicks on October 22, those warm feelings will return.

And Saturday's return will be another opportunity for a new group of fans to essentially say “thank you.” However, president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and coach Joe Mazzulla have stressed that it is important for the Celtics to distance themselves from their big success in order to properly focus on the next one.

“The goal is of course to repeat,” said striker Sam Hauser. “(Mazzulla) said it once in the opening session and said that was the last time he would say it. We all knew our goal was to get there, but it's a completely different year, a different journey and different adversities will happen along the way. So it will be fun.”

Saturday's game will also give the Celtics a chance to fully adjust to their normal time zone. They faced the Nuggets in two preseason games last week in Abu Dhabi. The 12-hour flights and eight-hour time zone changes were certainly an unusual way to start an NBA season.

But players said they've mostly adjusted in recent days, and they're comforted by the fact that they won't leave the Eastern time zone again until Nov. 10 against the Bucks.

The Celtics play a rare back-to-back preseason set this weekend with Sunday's game against the Raptors. Therefore, it is unlikely that the starters will play extended minutes in either competition.

“I’m looking forward to it, just because we play back-to-back games in the regular season,” guard Payton Pritchard said. “Of course, these games are about nothing other than preparing the body for what it's like and what the routine has to be to play at a high level. So it’s just a test run and I’ll definitely use it.”

Veteran Al Horford was forced to sit out both games in Abu Dhabi and Mazzulla stressed that the team is gradually increasing the 38-year-old's workload, adding that Horford is likely to play at some point in pre-season.

On Saturday, the Celtics will get their first look at a revamped 76ers squad that could be capable of challenging them at the top of the Eastern Conference.

Philadelphia, ousted by the Knicks in the opening round of last season's playoffs as former MVP Joel Embiid struggled with injuries, signed nine-time All-Star Paul George over the summer. The team also added veterans Andre Drummond, Caleb Martin, Eric Gordon and Reggie Jackson.

“I think it’s exciting,” White said. “The great thing about this league is that the teams get better every year. You have to improve and find new ways to win. So obviously they’ve made some new changes and they’re going to be better this year and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.