BOSTON — Joe Mazzulla has already gone through his first full season as head coach of the Celtics, a position awfully familiar to Erik Spoelstra, who debuted with the Heat 15 years ago.
Mazzulla found success at a much faster pace, though, coaching in his first-ever Eastern Conference finals against the Heat in Game 1 on Wednesday night at TD Garden, just four wins shy of leading the C’s back to the promised land in their hunt for Banner 18.
After his first month at the job, Mazzulla was recognized as Coach of the Month. By the All-Star break, Mazzulla was head coach of the East All-Star team, representing the Celtics alongside Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Now fast forward two rounds into Boston’s latest postseason campaign and the Celtics are right where they were a year ago, facing the same team on the same stage.
“I think he’s done a great job,” Spoelstra said. “I’ve gotten to know Joe a little bit over the years and he’s a sharp guy. His care factor is through the roof, his maturity is beyond his years. He’s been in this program for a while now. I think that’s probably what’s most relevant. He knows what’s important to this organization, and he has a lot of experience with these guys. He’s earned their trust. He’s done a great job.”
Mazzulla, unlike most head coaches in the league, had an unconventional entry to the head coach’s chair. He was initially put through a test run as interim head coach after Ime Udoka’s scandal, just weeks before the regular season began back in October. If that wasn’t enough, there’s also the added pressure of keeping Boston’s train on the tracks, entering the much-anticipated follow-up to its NBA Finals appearance in 2022.
Not many head coaches could relate to those circumstances in the NBA, much less anywhere in sports. Spoelstra can attest to that, having few words to offer when asked what he remembered from his debut at the helm in Miami back in 2008.
“I remember getting heckled like crazy my first game in New York,” Spoelstra explained. “That was my first game of my career. I remember them saying I was out past my bedtime.”
The Celtics survived several bumps and bruises against the Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers, teeter-tottering with another potential empty search for Banner 18. But matching up with the Heat for the third time in four years in the conference finals might be Boston’s ticket to redemption if all goes well, starting Wednesday night.
