Bulls’ Billy Donovan Details On-Court Exchange With Joe Mazzulla

Tuesday’s Bulls-Celtics matchup at TD Garden came with a unique set of circumstances.

In addition to a Brooklyn Nets win over the Toronto Raptors, Boston needed to blow the doors off Chicago in order to advance in the NBA in-season tournament. So with a victory well in hand late in the game, the Celtics kept the pressure on the visitors and even used the hacking strategy on Andre Drummond, a notoriously poor free-throw shooter.

Boston’s win-at-all-costs approach led to an on-court exchange between the pair of head coaches. And after the Celtics’ 124-97 win, Billy Donovan pulled back the curtain on his chat with Joe Mazzulla.

“You know, Andre is a veteran guy. I told him (Mazzulla), I’m like, ‘What are we doing here?'” Donovan told reporters, per a video shared by the Chicago Tribune’s Julia Poe. “Like, I get it on keeping your guys in, wanting to get in — the league’s made a big deal. In fairness to them, they got to deal with the rules, too. If they’re trying to get into Vegas, there’s things they got to do. For me, it was just the fouling and Joe was great when I talked to him. He understood. He wasn’t trying to do anything.”

Mazzulla revealed Donovan wasn’t aware of all of the ramifications regarding the in-season tournament Tuesday, so Boston’s second-year head coach informed his counterpart. Mazzulla also apologized to Drummond for stapling him to the charity stripe in a lopsided affair.

The Celtics now are two wins away from earning a spot in the in-season tournament championship game in Las Vegas. Boston will try to secure one of those victories Monday in Indiana.