More than anything else, Joe Mazzulla wanted his Celtics players to enjoy the stage Monday night at TD Garden.
That was the first-year head coach’s pregame message to Boston in the locker room before Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals. Aside from the Celtics giving their all until the final buzzer sounded, Mazzulla issued one ask of his team before it competed for a trip to the NBA Finals.
“Last game it took 47 minutes and 59.9999 seconds, all right? Tonight, it might take 48, it may take 53, it may take 58. It doesn’t matter,” Mazzulla said, as captured by TNT cameras. “You bring it and you stay in it for however long you have to stay in it for. And you better (expletive) smile while you do it. You gotta have the most fun you can, all right? That’s the most important thing.”
Unfortunately for the Celtics, there wasn’t much to smile about in the series finale. The Miami Heat jumped out to an early lead and never let Boston come very close to threatening their advantage. Mere minutes into the fourth quarter, it felt like the Celtics had virtually no shot of completing a historic comeback.
Mazzulla will now shift his focus to his first offseason at the helm in Boston. The 34-year-old will be on that perch for the foreseeable future, too, as he reportedly won’t lose his job this summer.
