JJ Reddick praises Joe Mazzulla’s ‘creative and thoughtful’ defense
"It's a perfect marriage between a coach who understands all of this stuff at a very high level and having smart, instinctual, awesome individual defenders."
It starts in the backcourt. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla has said time and time again that the key to his team’s success is defensive buy-in from the top players.
“When your best players want to play defense, you’ve got a chance every night,” Mazzulla said in January following the 119-110 win over the Mavericks.
Now, continuing to pull away from the second place Cavaliers with an eight game lead in the Eastern Conference, Boston shows no sign of slowing down against opponents.
“It’s a rarity,” ESPN sports analyst JJ Reddick said on his podcast Monday. “When you have the personnel like the Boston Celtics have, it just opens up a world of possibilities.”
Reddick praised Boston’s defensive prowess, acknowledging the power the team with the top-ranked defense wields.
Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Al Horford each made First-Team All-Defense this season. The addition of big man Kristaps Porzingis over the offseason added another layer of protection to Boston’s defensive scheme.
Despite undeniable talent on the roster, however, Reddick also credited Mazzulla for the success of the team’s defense.
“Joe Mazzulla is so creative and thoughtful about all of these matchups,” Reddick said, recalling a game versus the 76ers in which Holiday guarded Joel Embiid in a successful mis-match for 24 half-court possessions. “It’s stuff like that that’s so cool to me.”
“It’s a perfect marriage between a coach who understands all of this stuff at a very high level and having smart, instinctual, awesome individual defenders,” Reddick said.
The Celtics look to continue their season-best winning streak in a home matchup against the 76ers Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com