The Celtics have their backs against the wall after an embarrassing Game 5 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night at TD Garden.
There is plenty of blame to go around, but Boston boasts a roster filled with talent that has made it easy for blame to be pointed at head coach Joe Mazzulla.
The first-year head coach was thrust into the position after Ime Udoka — now the head coach of the Houston Rockets — was suspended for off-court behavior just ahead of training camp. The 34-year-old had no prior NBA head coaching experience, but Mazzulla ended up leading the Celtics to the second-best record in the league. Of course, some of that is because he inherited a team with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, but Mazzulla also knew what buttons to press and when.
One black cloud over him, though, remains his occasional hesitation to call a timeout, something that hurt Boston in Game 4 before the Celtics lost in overtime.
But even with all the criticism surrounding Mazzulla, it doesn’t appear the Celtics feel he deserves all the flak.
In an exclusive interview with Heavy’s Steve Bulpett, Marcus Smart gave a ringing endorsement of Mazzulla on behalf of the Celtics.
“We still believe in our coach,” Smart told Bulpett. “We believe in Joe to the fullest. We haven’t lost faith in him and we won’t. He has a game plan; it’s on us to go out and execute it. We’re the ones out there playing, so we’ve got to help him. He’s been doing great.
” … We’re playing against a really good team, and it’s all about adjustments in the playoffs. They’re doing a really good job of adjusting. We’re not. We have to figure it out. That’s the thing, the playoffs are different. It arises different obstacles for you. You’ve just got to maneuver them correctly.”
Mazzulla can’t go out there and make the wide-open 3-point shots himself, nor can he make the free throws, so it’s up to the players to hit those shots when presented with the opportunity. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but it just shouldn’t be pointed at one specific person.
It’s also worth noting that the Celtics were down 3-2 last year in the second round against the Milwaukee Bucks under Udoka before he led them to the NBA Finals in his first year on the bench. There’s no saying Mazzulla will take that same path, but it’s food for thought.
The Celtics will try to force a winner-take-all Game 7 when they play Game 6 on Thursday night. Tipoff from Wells Fargo Center is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.
