BOSTON — On Tuesday night, Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla walked into his pregame press conference with a sweatshirt that featured the word “MINDSET” in a large, bold font. He donned the same sweatshirt after the Celtics were stunned by the shorthanded Atlanta Hawks, falling 117-116 at TD Garden.
For Mazzulla's men, having a winning mindset is everything. That was apparent when the C's prevailed in the 2024 NBA Finals and when they fell to the now 5-7 Hawks.
Perhaps the best example of having a winning mindset in defeat came from the Celtics' best players, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. They made no excuses when asked about their puzzling loss to Atlanta.
“They came out and played physical, but me and [Tatum] got to be better. We had 20 turnovers as a team, and me and him both had 11 combined,” Brown stated.”And some of those were offensive fouls and whatever but still, we got to be better at securing the ball, getting to our space, and we didn't do that tonight. And it cost our team.”
Why Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum felt responsible for coming up short against the Hawks
Brown accounted for 6 turnovers, with two of those pivotal mistakes coming in the fourth quarter. He also notched a game-high 37 points while shooting over 64% from the field, but anybody listening to his postgame comments wouldn't have known that.
“We just got to fight better,” Brown admitted. “We didn't fight how we usually do tonight.”
The Celtics are 9-3 this season, which is good enough for second place in the Eastern Conference. However, nobody is satisfied, especially after losing to an undermanned Hawks team without star Trae Young and shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic.
“This is a part of the journey, but we got some stuff to clean up. We're not a perfect team,” Brown acknowledged. “It's a new season. It's a new journey. And we're looking forward to embracing, you know, those moments. We're gonna watch [film], we're gonna address what needs to be addressed.”
Jaylen Brown is looking forward to film and the opportunity to bounce back tomorrow vs. Brooklyn: “We’re not a perfect team … We’re gonna learn from these situations, and we’ll be better.”
Celtics star Jayson Tatum shared a sense of accountability in the wake of the upset as well.
In what was arguably his worst game of the season, the five-time All-Star recorded five turnovers while missing 11 of his 16 shots from the field. And with four seconds remaining in the contest and the scoreboard displaying a one-point deficit, Tatum failed to corral an inbound pass from Celtics guard Jrue Holiday, leading to a costly turnover, per Celtics CLNS.
“I gotta grab the ball,” Tatum stated. “So that was on me.”
Even Celtics guard Derrick White, who scored a season-high 31 points and drained seven of his 12 attempts from beyond the arc, claimed that he could've done more on defense to help his squad win.
“I just got to be better,” he told reporters.
The Green Team said the right things following their NBA Cup disappointment and they'll have a chance to back their words up soon. On Wednesday night, the Celtics are on the road against the 5-6 Brooklyn Nets, who they narrowly beat 108-104 in overtime last Friday. Brown and company are eager to forget the woes of Tuesday and show that they've learned from their mistakes.
“So we got to be able to move forward. Can't let it turn into, you know, a habit. We got to be able to respond well. So we're looking forward to film,” Brown commented. “We're gonna learn from these situations, and we'll be better.”
