BOSTON — With seven games left before the Boston Celtics officially close out the first half of their season and head into the NBA All-Star break, interim head coach Joe Mazzulla isn’t too keen on the idea of motivation.
The Celtics don’t have a whole lot of areas to highlight as areas of improvement. They lead the NBA with the best record (37-15) through 52 games. And despite whatever adversity posing as a challenge — injuries, cold shooting streaks or crucial free-throw misses — Boston has managed to maintain its place in the NBA as the league’s top dog. That’s yet to change.
Before Mazzulla and the Celtics embarked on their latest matchup Friday against the Pheonix Suns, the 34-year-old highlighted a few other vital areas he envisions would help maintain Boston’s top-of-the-league success.
“I don’t believe in motivation,” Mazzulla said. “I believe in the discipline, the execution, the effort, the things that you’re supposed to do. So I think it’s more about being focused. … We just gotta maintain our focus, that’s the most important right now.”
Boston is fresh off their dominant 139-96 blowout against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night which left little to no room to highlight any improvements or adjustments. Boston is set to face a Suns team which, like the Nets, fell in rather underwhelming fashion (125-98) when they faced the Celtics back on Dec. 7.
Mazzulla, rather than focused on Pheonix’s motivation, is more focused on Boston preserving its momentum from the Brooklyn victory.
“We can’t go into a game knowing what a team’s motivation is,” Mazzulla said. “… We also gotta know what our job is and focus on what we have to do. And so I think that’s where our focus is and just feeding off what we did last game from that standpoint of being proactive. … Can’t control a team’s motivation.”
