Just about everything has gone right for Joe Mazzulla throughout his debut campaign as interim head coach of the Boston Celtics.
After the Celtics closed out their 2021-22 season in frustrating fashion and endured a gut-wrenching defeat in six games against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, Boston has raised the bar and expectations all across the board after just 26 games played thus far.
Whether it'd be the MVP-caliber season from Jayson Tatum or the heavily convincing Coach of the Year campaign from Mazzulla, the Celtics have emerged as a team that's continued to raise the bar. They clearly have shown to come out stronger and much more motivated after failing at the biggest stage just a few months ago -- which Mazzulla has taken notice of.
"What I remember more is how they're responding now," Mazzulla told reporters Friday, according to NBC Sports Boston's Chris Forsberg. "It's easy to be upset when something doesn't go your way or you suffer a loss or a defeat. But to stay motivated months after and be locked in on what the long-term goals are -- but also the short-term goals -- says a lot about them.
"So that's what stands out to me more is their ability to hands the goals they set and the motivations they have to get where they want to go."
Aside from going down due to various sources of adversity, whether it'd be the Ime Udoka scandal or the injuries which have sidelined veterans Robert Williams and Danilo Gallinari, the Celtics only have continued to prove themselves capable of battling through any setback thrown at them.
Even on occasions when key depth pieces such as Al Horford or Malcolm Brogdon have sat out, the Celtics have displayed an impressive next-man-up mentality where their NBA's best-ranked offense -- as of Saturday -- has yet to show any ability to be slowed down.
The Celtics have put 120-plus points on the scoreboard in 15 of their first 26 games and have only lost one of those games.
Prior to their much-anticipated NBA Finals rematch against the Warriors on Saturday, the Celtics -- unlike Golden State -- have followed up their conference-winning season in dominant fashion. At 21-5 before 8:30 p.m. ET tipoff from Chase Center, the Celtics have recorded the best record in the NBA.
