After a disastrous game Sunday evening in South Beach, Joe Mazzulla admitted he currently doesn’t have complete control of the Celtics locker room.
One former Boston player, however, believes the first-year head coach no longer has any grasp of his team.
The Celtics were thoroughly embarrassed in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Heat. After Miami won back-to-back games in Boston to start the best-of-seven series, the reigning East champs failed to respond in a 128-102 loss at Kaseya Center. The C’s effectively were listless from wire to wire and displayed a concerning lack of urgency given the situation.
After the game, Eddie House turned to Mazzulla as he pinpointed his main takeaways from Boston’s embarrassing showing.
“The biggest takeaway is the Miami Heat are just more prepared. Damn that, let me say this: I feel like the Celtics have quit on their coach. Let’s call it what we really see,” House said on NBC Sports Boston, as transcribed by MassLive.”I feel that those guys out there don’t believe in what their coach is doing. We’ve seen that done in many other places.
“I don’t believe that they really believe in Joe Mazzulla. I just feel that because if you believe in the leader of your team, whether it’s a coach, that message is passed down through the superstars. Lackluster efforts, not getting back in transition defense, to me, it looks like a team that is already defeated. I hate to say it like this but at the end of the day I wouldn’t be surprised if we go in and lay another egg.”
House isn’t the only NBA analyst who believes the Celtics already have an eye on summer vacation. Charles Barkley sounded like he was convinced a sweep was on the horizon after Boston turned in a “humiliating” Game 3 effort.
The C’s will try to save their season Tuesday night when the sides meet once again in Miami. Tipoff for Game 4 is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET.
