What Joe Mazzulla Told Celtics After Season-Opening Win Over 76ers

The Celtics ushered in a new era Tuesday night at TD Garden.

Boston’s first game of the 2022-23 NBA season marked the head coaching debut of Joe Mazzulla, who took over at the helm after Ime Udoka was suspended by the organization for the entire campaign. The Rhode Island native kicked off his tenure with a bang, as the Celtics used a great second-half effort to cruise past Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers.

After the game, the Celtics released a video of Mazzulla’s postgame address to the team, which preceded Boston players dousing their head coach with water in celebration.

“Nothing better than that ‘let’s go Celtics’ chant at the end of the game. Nothing better than closing a game by playing together,” Mazzulla said. “I thought those were the two biggest things: We ran off ball, we screened for each other and we just got everybody involved. That’s big time. Notice what we did in this game. We have a lot of ways we can play. We can play in different ways. We all have to understand it’s not going to be one way that wins a game. Tonight, everyone answered the call. It’s gotta be like that all season. Nothing gets in the way of winning. Nothing gets in the way of winning.”

The Mazzulla-led C’s will try to make it two wins in a row Friday night when they visit the Miami Heat.