Joe Mazzulla was being ‘generous’ by taking the blame for Game 3, players say
Joe Mazzulla played a role in the Celtics' Game 3 collapse, but players say he doesn't deserve all the blame.
Joe Mazzulla put the blame on himself for the Celtics’ Game 3 loss to Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals.
He said he didn’t have the team ready to play, and that the team has lost its defensive identity. He said he has to be better at his job.
While those comments all have some level of truth to them, putting all the blame on Mazulla lets the players off the hook for one of the most embarrassing playoff performances in Celtics history.
The Celtics have two all-NBA players, the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, last year’s Defensive Player of the Year, and a deep bench, and they’re still getting stomped by a play-in team.
“He’s being generous,” Celtics forward Al Horford said of his coach’s comments. “At the end of the day, that falls on each player. We know what we have to do. We knew the magnitude of this game.”
Boston’s core has been together for six years and is on its third head coach. They’ve made the Eastern Conference Finals four times and have only gotten past it once, last year under Ime Udoka.
“I don’t even know where to start,” Jaylen Brown said. “An obvious letdown. I feel like we let our fan base, organization down, we let ourselves down, and it was collective. We could point fingers, but in reality, it was just embarrassing.”
The Celtics’ best players, Brown and Jayson Tatum, went a combined 12-for-35 from the field during the blowout loss. Boston shot 26 percent from 3-point range collectively.
“Yeah, tonight was tough. I think from the beginning of the game, we were turning the ball over,” Tatum said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well. They shot the ball extremely well. Just kind of felt like we never recovered, honestly. That’s on all of us as a unit. We didn’t play well at all.”
The Celtics have lost the defensive identity they built with Udoka, Mazzulla said after the game. Brown agreed but also noted how well the Heat are shooting during this series.
“Our defense hasn’t been especially what it was last year,” Brown said. “But we’ve had tremendous strides in different directions, and we’ve been able to find ways to win basketball games. I don’t think that was the issue here. Yeah, we struggled to get stops, but to their credit, they’re playing well above their means. They’re balling right now. I’ve got to give them respect, Gabe Vincent, Martin, Strus, Duncan Robinson, guys that we should be able to keep under control are playing their {expletive} off.”
The Celtics, who trail the series 3-0, will play the Heat again in Miami on Tuesday night.
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