Are you the type of Celtics fan who absolutely must watch all 82 games on the schedule and, obviously, the entire postseason? Then get ready to make a few adjustments to your watching habits, because a lot has changed since last season ended, and those changes will be felt quickly by Celtics fans, beginning with game two of the new schedule.
Let’s start with the familiar TV channels that are not changing. If you watch the Celtics on either NBA League Pass or NBC Sports Boston, those remain your go-to
sources for the majority of Celtics telecasts.
The difference now will be when the Celtics appear on national telecasts. After many years, TNT is no longer in the picture, having been replaced by Amazon’s streaming service, Prime Video, and the NBC network and its own streaming platform, Peacock. Still in place is the combination of the ABC network and its cable TV partner ESPN, as well as the league’s own NBA TV.
All told, Boston will appear on those combined outlets more than 30 times – the catch being that, according to NBA.com, 10 of those games are presently scheduled to be shown only on Prime, Peacock or ESPN. All of those channels, whether as a standalone service or part of a package, charge a fee for access.
Right away, fans will need Prime Video in order to watch Celtics’ road games versus two of their biggest rivals – on October 24 at New York and October 31 at Philadelphia. Those are the first contests that will be carried exclusively on Amazon Prime, with no coverage by League Pass or NBC Sports Boston. Much of the NBA Cup schedule, the entire Play-In Tournament, and a number of playoff games are also scheduled to be carried by Prime or Peacock.
NBA.com recently published an article that covers the league’s entire TV scene in-depth, plus a list of Frequently Asked Questions. For easy reference, we’ve gathered all the Celtics telecast info right here. Games that are scheduled exclusively on each outlet are noted.
Prime
- Oct. 24: Boston at New York — 7:30 PM ET (exclusive)
- Oct. 31: Boston at Philadelphia — 7:00 PM ET (exclusive)
- Dec. 5: Los Angeles at Boston — 7:00 PM ET (exclusive)
- Dec. 26: Boston at Indiana — 7:30 PM ET
- Feb. 19: Boston at Golden State — 10:00 PM ET
- Mar. 12: Boston at Oklahoma City — 9:30 PM ET
- Apr. 9: Boston at New York — 7:30 PM ET (exclusive)
NBC and Peacock
- Nov. 11: Boston at Philadelphia — 8 PM ET
- Dec. 2: New York at Boston — 8 PM ET
- Jan. 12: Boston at Indiana — 7:30 PM ET (Peacock Only)
- Jan. 19: Boston at Detroit — 8 PM ET
- Jan. 26: Portland at Boston — 8 PM ET (Peacock Only)
- Feb. 3: Boston at Dallas — 8 PM ET
- Feb. 22: Boston at Los Angeles — 6:30 PM ET
- Mar. 2: Boston at Milwaukee — 7:30 PM ET (Peacock Only)
- Mar. 16: Phoenix at Boston — 8 PM ET (Peacock Only)
- Mar. 22: Minnesota at Boston — 8 PM ET
ABC and ESPN
- Oct. 29: Cleveland at Boston — 7:00 PM ET
- Nov. 26: Detroit at Boston — 5 PM ET (ESPN only)
- Feb. 1: Milwaukee at Boston — 3:30 PM ET
- Feb. 8: New York at Boston — 12:30 PM ET (ABC only)
- Feb. 25: Boston at Denver — 10:00 PM ET (ESPN only)
- Mar. 6: Dallas at Boston — 7:00 PM ET
- Mar. 8: Boston at Cleveland — 1 PM ET (ABC only)
- Mar. 18: Golden State at Boston — 7:00 PM ET
Source: NBA.com
The hope here is that this information will help fans know how and where to access all the games on the Celtics’ schedule and, perhaps most important, to always tune in to the correct channel from one night to the next.
