Pep Guardiola swaps the Etihad for TD Garden as Manchester City coach sits courtside for NBA Finals Game 1 between Celtics and Mavericks

Pep Guardiola enjoyed the action from the stands instead of the sidelines for once on Thursday night as he took in the NBA finals.

The Manchester City manager is apparently enjoying keeping his feet on the ground during his break from the Premier League, after his team made history with their fourth consecutive title.

The Spaniard was at TD Garden for the first game of the NBA Finals series between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks.

And it was immediately clear who Guardiola was rooting for as he wore a Celtics hoodie as he sat courtside.

The Spaniard has previously spoken about how he looked at the worlds of both tennis and basketball to understand how he could improve his own side.

‘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 [Michael] Jordan. I don’t compare to that, don’t get me wrong. The NBA has a lot of clubs with two or three in a row.”

Guardiola was spotted chatting with Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla at the TD Garden on Wednesday as the two exchanged 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.

On the eve of that game, the basketball coach was joined on the TD Garden court by Guardiola, who was deep in conversation with the American.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager, who has won six Premier League titles and three Champions Leagues during his coaching career, cut an animated figure as he appeared to gesture to the coach with his hands.

We’ve seen the Spaniard perform similar moves with his players during the 2023-2024 season, most notably holding an impassioned coaching chat with Jack Grealish after City’s 0-0 draw with Arsenal.

With several members of his squad now traveling to Germany for this summer’s European Championship, Guardiola has flown to America to catch up with Mazzulla after welcoming the basketball coach to the Etihad Campus in February.

On that day, Guardiola was seen talking to Mazzulla at City’s training ground, with the Premier League football manager again appearing to pass bits of information to the basketball coach.

Guardiola (right) appeared to meet Mazzulla (left) at the TD Garden ahead of the Boston Celtics’ NBA Finals opening game

Mazzulla (pictured) is the youngest coach to ever play in the NBA Finals since Bill Russell

The Boston Celtics coach (right) met with 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.”

“That’s what the game of basketball is about for me, and what counter-attacking in football is about,” he told the newspaper when speaking about how he wants to instill the same philosophies in his team that Guardiola brings to Man City.

‘So I study Man City a lot. I study Pep a lot. I think he is the best coach at any level, in any sport. It has had a huge influence (on me).’

This week they were also photographed exchanging their respective teams’ shirts, with Guardiola holding up a green Celtics jersey.