How Joe Mazzulla’s technical foul changed Celtics’ ‘flat’ energy against the Wizards
The Celtics came out flat after their trip to the White House, but a late spark boosted them to a win.
WASHINGTON — Thursday was a day of celebration for the Celtics. They visited the White House to commemorate their NBA-record 18th championship. They were drinking apple cider, taking selfies, and watching President Joe Biden execute a pump fake.
But, Friday night against the young and unestablished Wizards, the Celtics got off to a sluggish start. They let Washington hang around for most of the game before finishing off a double-digit win.
With Boston down by three late in the third quarter, coach Joe Mazzulla was whistled for a technical foul. An assistant coach held him back from jawing at an official.
Mazzulla felt that the technical foul changed the energy inside Washington’s Capitol One Arena. The team responded with a 12-4 run before closing out the win.
“It wasn’t really about energizing the team. I think it was just manipulating the environment,” Mazzulla said. “I thought that was what the environment needed at the time and you just have to make those calls from time to time. We were playing pretty good, it wasn’t like I needed to do that, but I felt like it was a way to manipulate the environment.
Asked to elaborate on the change, Mazzulla said: “Just noise, chaos, energy, anxiety, a little bit of everything.”
Jaylen Brown believed the officials missed a foul call shortly before the tech. The energy shifted after the call on Mazzulla, Brown said.
“Well, one, I think it was an obvious foul that they missed,” Brown said. “I don’t know what that was, but we didn’t have a lot of energy tonight. I think it was kind of clear. Maybe it’s because yesterday (was) a long day. We came in a little bit flat.”
“So, we definitely needed to find different ways to put a pep in our step,” Brown added. “And I guess Joe getting a tech — I don’t know if that kind of helped or hurt but we needed to be better and that was the start of it.”
Jrue Holiday said Mazzulla’s decision was wise. Something needed to change, so Mazzulla made a move.
“I thought it was a foul, but yeah, I think you could tell,” Holiday said. “I think that that was smart, just to know that he has our back no matter what. And again, he was disrespectful in a respectful way. I think getting that tech just showed us like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to fight for you guys’ and having the crowd behind us in that situation was big.”
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