Nine months after calling for Joe Mazzulla to go as Celtics coach, I’m glad he stayed
When the Celtics fell behind, three games to none, to the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals last May, it was close to impossible to avoid being down on Mazzulla.
When the Celtics fell behind, three games to none, to the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals last May, I was all for turning the rookie coach into the ex-coach the moment the season’s imminent end arrived. Maybe you were too.
It was close to impossible to avoid being down on Joe Mazzulla and the entire recent Celtics experience, which annually brought success right up to a painful, dispiriting end.
The Heat, ever-prepared and ever-annoying, had smoked the disconnected Celtics by 26 points in Game 3.
For all intents and purposes, the quest to return to the NBA Finals and avenge the previous season’s loss was over, or would be after 48 more minutes of unused timeouts, nap breaks on defense, and watching the Celtic that dribbled the ball over midcourt too often take the shot.
It was an ugly performance against an opponent with a knack for drawing out the Celtics’ worst habits, and it was not difficult to see it as the necessary end to something.
I wrote this line with venom and vigor after Game 3: “Joe Mazzulla, one of the few Celtics who hasn’t quit, is the one who is going to have to go when this charade of a series, and the season with it, is mercifully over.”
Wrote this line too: “Their players, as shown through their recent words and pathetic actions, clearly do not believe their coach gives them a fighting chance.”
And this: “The Celtics tried to develop a coach with a roster built to win now, and it backfired.”
Now, this is not an apology or a mea culpa. I’m not here to eat crow for Joe. In those circumstances, in that emotional maelstrom of frustration and disappointment, I believe it was the fitting sentiment.
The Celtics were embarrassingly checked out in Game 3, Mazzulla was overmatched, and it’s not as if I stood alone in disgust. Eddie House, the NBC Sports Boston analyst and 2008 champion, said after Game 3, “I feel like the Celtics have quit on their coach. Call it what we really see. I feel that those guys out there don’t believe in what their coach is doing. … I don’t believe they really believe in Joe Mazzulla.”
I’ll always wonder whether the Celtics would have stuck by Mazzulla had they been clobbered in Game 4. But they weren’t. They did not check out, go through the motions, and scatter for the summer. They pulled off three straight victories, by 17 points, 13 points, and then 1 point, with Derrick White’s wonderful put-back at the buzzer suddenly making a Game 7 victory feel inevitable.
It was not. Jayson Tatum rolled his ankle on the first possession, the other Celtics could not overcome it, and the Heat prevailed by 19.
But the Celtics did not roll over when the opportunity presented itself. In a small way, that reflected well on Mazzulla, even though some Celtics seemed to have the attitude of, “We can do this, even if it’s in spite of him.”
Nine months after writing that Mazzulla needed to go, I’m glad that view did not become reality. There would have been an element of genuine unfairness to it, even by the ruthless standards of professional sports.
You know the beats of the story: At 34 years old and having never been a head coach above Division 2 in the college ranks, Mazzulla took over as interim coach on the eve of training camp when Ime Udoka was suspended for violating team policies.
The degree of difficulty was staggering. The Celtics had championship aspirations, a roster of well-meaning but obstinate personalities, and a bond with Udoka that remained strong, as some players questioned why he could not coach them anymore.
And Mazzulla had to navigate all of this while working with a skeleton crew of mostly former Udoka assistants. In retrospect, it was a tribute to the Celtics’ talent and resolve that they got as far as they did.
Rather than moving on from or demoting Mazzulla, his most ardent supporter did something wiser. Brad Stevens made things easier for him.
Veteran assistants Sam Cassell and Charles Lee were notable, welcome additions to the coaching staff. Grant Williams, a role player who could gripe to the officials like a superstar, went to Dallas (and didn’t stay long) in a sign-and-trade. Most important, Marcus Smart, the longest-tenured and for better or worse the most headstrong Celtic, was swapped to Memphis in a three-way deal that brought Kristaps Porzingis from Washington.
Smart’s departure hurt, but it was the right thing to do in multiple ways. It opened more playing time for master-of-everything Derrick White. It gave the Celtics an enviable inside/outside weapon in Porzingis. And it left the Celtics positioned to acquire Jrue Holiday — a calmer, unthreatened, superior version of Smart — when he suddenly became available.
Mazzulla has a more coachable roster this season — and he’s a better coach. He has earned greater trust. He’s not overwhelmed. He has ceased hoarding timeouts, explains his reasoning thoughtfully during press conferences, and now remembers to play White in crunch time.
Some would complain that the Celtics are too 3-point-happy, but I’m fine with the Celtics shooting 40 or so a game, provided that they’re good looks rather than contested step-backs with 12 seconds on the shot clock. And it’s not as if he’s ignoring post play. The Celtics use Porzingis in the paint whenever they need a quick 2 or he has a mismatch.
I would like to see Mazzulla use some bench players a little more over the final 20-plus games. Oshae Brissett is helpful as an energy boost, and Mazzulla does need to find out whether Xavier Tillman can be a factor in the playoffs. But for the most part, he has handled the roster and the players’ workload with the big picture in mind. If he can ever get these guys to box out, then I’ll really believe in him.
The real test comes in the playoffs, of course, and I think we’d all be OK with it if Mazzulla doesn’t have to match X’s and O’s with Erik Spoelstra along the way. But these Celtics are a juggernaut, a far better and more well-rounded team than they were a year ago, and everyone should feel great about where they are and where they are headed.
This could be a heck of a redemption story for the Celtics and their improving second-year coach. No, this is not an apology to Joe Mazzulla, not yet. But I wouldn’t mind crafting something come June.
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