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

“And I told some of my people that the energy in preseason, like everywhere else, is usually in the arena. But in Boston it’s always up to date. And so I don’t think this year will be any different. It will probably become even more. So I’m excited about it.”

There will be opportunities for nostalgia in the coming weeks, and some of them will be unavoidable. When the players receive their championship rings and watch the banner being raised before facing the Knicks on October 22, those warm feelings will come flooding back.

And Saturday’s return will be another opportunity for a new collection of fans to essentially say thank you. But president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and coach Joe Mazzulla have emphasized that it will be important for the Celtics to step away from their big achievement so they can properly focus on their next one.

“Obviously the goal is to repeat this,” forward Sam Hauser said. “(Mazzulla) said it once at the opening meeting and said that was the last time (he) was going to say it. We all knew that was our goal, but it’s a very different year, a different journey, and there will be other setbacks along the way. So it will be fun.”

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

But the players said they have largely adjusted in recent days, and they are comforted by the fact they won’t leave the Eastern time zone again until they face the Bucks on Nov. 10.

The Celtics will play a rare back-to-back preseason set this weekend, with Sunday’s game against the Raptors. So it’s unlikely the starters will play long minutes in either game.

“I’m looking forward to it, just because we’re playing back-to-backs in the regular season,” guard Payton Pritchard said. “Obviously, these games don’t mean anything other than just preparing your body for what that’s like and what your routine should look like to play at a high level. So it’s just a test drive and I’m definitely going to take advantage of it.”

Veteran Al Horford played both matches 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 team that could be in position to challenge them at the top of the Eastern Conference standings.

Philadelphia, which was ousted by the Knicks in the opening round of last season’s playoffs with former MVP Joel Embiid struggling with injuries, signed nine-time All-Star Paul George last 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 competition 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 this year they’re going to be better, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

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