For coaching a team that cruised through the regular season and is 8-2 in the postseason so far, Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla has plenty of critics. Mazzulla guided Boston to an NBA best record of 64-18, 14 games better than the New York Knicks, the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. After beating the Miami Heat and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2024 postseason, the Celtics are headed to their third straight Eastern Conference Finals.
Still, Mazzulla is often criticized. Whether it’s not calling a timeout at the right time or not getting creative with with his late-game play-calling, Mazzulla has taken his share of heat during Boston’s successful run. In just his second year as an NBA coach, Mazzulla is settling in after a first year in which he said he believed he was misunderstood.
Joe Mazzulla Says He Was Misunderstood In His Rookie Season as Celtics Head Coach
In his two seasons as the Celtics coach, it’s hard to argue with Mazzulla’s numbers. In the regular season, he’s 121-43. In 2003, he led the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals, and his Celtics are back there again in 2024. They are significant favorites to win the 2024 championship.
He was thrown into the head coaching position in 2023 after the Celtics suspended Ime Udoka for violating team rules. It was a learning experience for Mazzulla, who opened up about that first year as the head coach of one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports.
In a video put out by NBC Sports Boston, Mazzulla was asked if there was ever a time in his career where he felt if he was misunderstood. He was quick to answer.
“Last year, in my first season, I felt that way” Mazzulla said. “Kind of in this box of like, who am I? Who’s the coach of the Boston Celtics supposed to be like?
“I think anytime you become a head coach and a leader, you have to find a space to where, how can you make it yours? I didn’t really have the time to do that, and I didn’t think it was the time or the place in Year 1 with the expectations that we had. It wasn’t really about me trying to be myself. It was more about what I thought the players and the organization needed.”
Mazzulla Likened Himself to His New Dog
The video took an up-close look at Mazzulla’s family life, his faith, and his new dog, a Rottweiler named Nike.
During the interview, he spoke about Nike and expressed his feelings about Rottweilers being misunderstood. That ultimately led to the question about him ever feeling misunderstood.
“That’s one of the reasons I fell in love with the Rottweiler,” he said. ‘I think they’re so misunderstood from the standpoint of how they’re viewed by people and how they really are, especially toward the people that they love.”
The Celtics players seem to love playing for Mazzulla. They’ve all bought in. They’ve stuck up for their coach when he’s been criticized, and he’s done the same for them.
Mazzulla and the Celtics are eight wins from hoisting Banner 18 from the TD Garden rafters. The pressure is there to get over the hump. Should they win the 2024 title, Mazzulla will no longer be misunderstood or criticized. He’ll be that Boston Rottweiler that everyone loves.
