Why Joe Mazzulla compared Sam Hauser to Brett Favre following shooting struggles in Celtics’ win over Kings
"I know you guys don't like failure, but you've got to fail in order to succeed."
Sam Hauser was historically bad shooting the ball in the Celtics’ 101-100 win over the Kings on Friday.
The Celtics wing shot 1 of 18 from the field, tying Jayson Tatum’s franchise record for the most missed field goals in a game while making just one shot. He also shot 1 of 13 from 3-point territory, marking a wildly uncharacteristic shooting night for him as his 43.8 3-point percentage entering Friday was top five in the league.
Yet, coach Joe Mazzulla was encouraged by Hauser’s tenacity to shoot the ball, despite the ball not dropping for the entire night. Mazzulla made an immediate comparison to a pair of Hall of Famers when it was mentioned that Hauser tied Tatum’s record.
“It’s like Brett Favre having the most interceptions and touchdowns,” Mazzulla told reporters. “Babe Ruth has the most strikeouts. That’s life. … I know you guys don’t like failure, but you’ve got to fail in order to succeed.”
Mazzulla later corrected himself and said that Reggie Jackson, another Hall of Famer who hit over 500 home runs, is MLB’s all-time leader in strikeouts. But his point remained the same: Great players have many failures, too.
Hauser, a Wisconsin native and noted Packers fan, might have also enjoyed the comparison to Favre. But Mazzulla was also impressed with how Hauser didn’t let his shooting slump affect the rest of his game Friday.
“I think it’s more just not being defined by scoring, which we’ve talked about a number of our guys being able to do, that everyone on the team has the ability to affect the game in different ways,” Mazzulla said. “It’s a credit to Sam for one, to keep shooting, and two, to not let it impact the rest of his game. That’s the mind-set you have to have.”
Hauser, who started Friday with Jaylen Brown and Derrick White out of the lineup, made plays in other areas, recording seven rebounds (tied for the fourth-most he’s had in a game this season), three assists (tied for the fourth-most he’s had in a game this season), and a steal.
In addition to starting, Hauser was the lone member of Friday’s starting lineup to play in crunch time. Mazzulla opted to keep a lineup of Hauser plus four bench players on the floor for the final six-plus minutes after they led by as many as 19 points.
That decision nearly allowed the Kings to get a comeback win. But after Sacramento took a one-point lead with 27 seconds left, Hauser made a heads-up play on the offensive end to knock the ball out of Kings forward Keegan Murray’s hands and over to Xavier Tillman. The Celtics big drove to the basket and made a floater that gave Boston a one-point lead with 7.1 seconds remaining.
Plays like that encouraged Mazzulla over Hauser’s performance on Friday, saying the “most important thing” was that he wasn’t “defined by shooting.”
“You couldn’t tell by his effort defensively that he wasn’t shooting the ball well on offense,” Mazzulla said. “He probably got pissed at himself that he missed. But that’s a huge component, to be able to not be affected by it that you can’t execute other parts of your job. I think that was really fun to see that in him.”
Hauser’s teammates also found positives in Hauser’s performance Friday, as Payton Pritchard anticipates that the water will find its level again soon.
“I almost look at this like it’s a good thing,” Pritchard said. “Like, Sam is, to me, the best catch-and-shoot shooter in the league. This is going to come back around. He can go like 10-for-10 like we’ve seen.
“So I think this is a good sign,” Pritchard added. “That means the next couple games, he’s going to be on fire.”
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