Four hours before tipoff of the NBA’s season-opening game Tuesday night, Celtics assistant coach Jay Larranaga sat in his usual post at TD Garden.
Stationed about 10 rows up in Section 107, Larranaga was the lone body in a sea of green and white T-shirts laying atop seats that soon would be filled with fans eager to watch the Celtics take on the Philadelphia 76ers.
“I think everybody’s excited when the season starts,’’ Larranaga said. “We’ve put a lot of work into it, preparation all summer, anticipating the start of the new year . . . I think we all felt we would’ve liked to have kept playing at the end of last year, so we have a real hunger to continue to improve and to compete.