Why Joe Mazzulla compared the Celtics to ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse’
"There's like, 20 different Spider-Men? That’s like our team."
The Celtics’ win over the Wizards on Friday night didn’t come in the prettiest fashion.
Boston defeated the team with the league’s second-worst record by only four points, 131-127, getting outscored in three quarters as it allowed 36 fastbreak points. The Celtics gave up 20 3-pointers in the win, as the Wizards also scored 42 fourth-quarter points to keep it close after Boston took a double-digit lead going into the final frame.
Even though the Celtics’ win over the Wizards was probably closer than many would’ve liked, coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t seem too concerned, comparing his team to hit a movie.
“Ever seen Spider-Man? … Into the Spider-Verse? There’s like, 20 different Spider-Men? That’s like our team,” Mazzulla told reporters.
The Celtics coach pointed out a couple of things his team did well Friday, such as Jrue Holiday’s facilitation and some of their pick-and-roll combos. He explained why the Celtics are like “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.”
“Success is going to look different each and every night,” Mazzulla said. “I think the guys are doing a good job of understanding what that balance is, and as long as the process towards how we’re going about attacking the other team is right, and it fits with what’s best for the team, then it’s just executing.”
The Celtics used a monster third quarter to take the lead for good Friday, outscoring the Wizards 36-16 in the penultimate frame. Kristaps Porzingis and Jayson Tatum led the way for the Celtics in that quarter, scoring 14 and 13 points, respectively, as Boston put up at least 30 points in all four quarters.
Even though the Celtics concluded their seven-game home stretch with a 5-2 record, it’s be fair to say that they didn’t look as dominant over the last two weeks as they did earlier in the season. They were blown out by the Clippers and lost by double-digits to an undermanned Lakers squad.
In the five wins, the Celtics’ only double-digit victory came against a Grizzlies team that was without 13 players on Sunday. The Celtics picked up tight wins against the Pelicans and Pacers, who are both in playoff or play-in positions, but also needed to squeak out wins against the Hawks and Wizards, who are both well below .500.
Mazzulla said that there should be a “principle of having no expectations heading into a game,” adding that the Celtics “shouldn’t be up by a certain amount” because of what the other team’s record might be.
“Just because we’re playing a team that has a record of whatever their record is means we should be up a certain amount. I think that’s pretty arrogant to think that,” Mazzulla said. ” … It shouldn’t matter if we’re up five, down 10 to a team that has a good record or a bad record. What matters is the process of how we play. We can’t fall into those narratives that, ‘Oh, this team has nine wins, so we should be up by 15.’”
To Mazzulla’s credit, the Celtics won in different fashions over their homestand. The Hawks made just 42.2 percent of their shots on Wednesday as the Celtics had three different 20-point scorers. They blew out the Grizzlies, 131-91, on Sunday after their loss to the Lakers.
Earlier in the homestand, the Celtics put up an efficient offensive performance in their win over the Pacers, shooting 54.2 percent from the field and 47.2 percent from deep. That came a day after they allowed the Pelicans to shoot just 28.6 percent from deep in a comeback win.
Mazzulla admitted seeing games like Friday’s happen because it proved that the situational preparation paid off.
“Just because it’s a nine-win team doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a close game. We should almost rather want it to be a close game,” Mazzulla added. “We got to work on a situation today that we simulated in shootaround. To me, I’d rather have that than have a blowout because we walked through two situations and they both happened in the exact game and we got them both down pat.
“I want as many close games as possible.”
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