Joe Mazzulla’s prayer routine includes rosary beads made from a piece of old Garden floor
"Obviously there's a religious component there, but like, it's made from the wood."
Joe Mazzulla received a unique gift that combines Celtics history and religion.
During a recent interview on “The Lowe Post,” Mazzulla revealed that he carries rosary beads made from wood of a previous Celtics home court and prays with them before home games.
“My assistant, Kara, who also works for the team, she knows what’s important to me and my faith and she got the old parquet from the Garden and made rosary beads out of it. So every day I get to the Garden, I do my prayer circle and I use those rosary. Obviously there’s a religious component there, but like, it’s made from the wood.”
Mazzulla is outspoken about his faith, so much so that he responded to a question about what it meant to be one of two Black NBA head coaches facing off in the Finals for the first time since 1975 by saying, “I wonder how many of those have been Christian coaches.”
He’s also appreciative of Celtics history, having personally e-mailed former players before the season to come back and share their wisdom with the team.
“I felt like it’s important that we share in this experience together,” Mazzulla said at the time. “They started the tradition, they kept it going, and now it’s our responsibility as an organization to keep it alive.”
Mazzulla said he enjoys the beads because of the connection to past Celtics and to his faith.
“Just having that with you, knowing what the people have gone through before as players, coaches, front office, everybody involved. It’s a sense of connectivity to Celtic history and a sense of connectivity to my faith. I carry those with me everywhere I go and I bring them out for home games, so I’m really grateful for that gift.”
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