Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla Brushes Off Upset Raptors Bench Reaction

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla triggered an upset Raptors bench reaction during Boston’s 117-94 win over Toronto on Saturday night.

However, in hindsight, Mazzulla expressed no regret.

The reaction was sparked in the fourth quarter when Boston was already ahead 27 points with 3:39 minutes left and Mazzulla elected to use a coach’s challenge. With both teams sidelined as the officials reviewed the then-overturned possession, several Raptors players chirped and approached Mazzulla, disgruntled by his decision to use the challenge while already ahead.

An unreal way to handle the bottled-up anger of getting destroyed and outplayed, Mazzulla stood by the decision to do what he felt was best for the Celtics — his No. 1 priority.

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“They just thought that it was, I don’t know if it was, like, disrespectful or cheap to challenge in that situation,” Mazzulla told reporters, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “I don’t really agree or disagree. I think at the end of the day, my responsibility is to my players first. And, you know, having respect for the game, we’ve been in that situation before where we don’t shoot the last shot. We let the clock go out, we do that all the time.

“But with three and a half minutes to go, when you have a group of guys that check-in and they’re playing as hard as they can, I think it’s my responsibility to my players first and it was a clear opportunity for me to empower the players. … I’ll always put them first.”

With the starting unit seated and the reserves on the floor for garbage time minutes in an already set-in-stone Celtics win, Mazzulla made it clear that the game would still be treated the same. Is that a bush league move? Or are the Raptors blowing a non-issue way out of proportion? That’s up for interpretation.

Toronto didn’t belong on the same floor as Boston, although its hard work did make the first half somewhat of a contest. The Raptors should instead apply the energy directed at Mazzulla to find ways to alleviate their 38.5% shooting from the field on 91 shot attempts.

Before the night, Toronto entered Boston ranked 23rd in scoring, averaging just 90.1 points with one of the NBA’s weakest offensive units.

The Raptors fell to 4-5 with the loss, dropping to the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference. In other words, Toronto has bigger issues than Mazzulla.