Why Joe Mazzulla ‘Loves’ Coaching Gritty, Battle-Filled Celtics Games

The Boston Celtics battled the New York Knicks to a hard-fought win at TD Garden on Monday night to improve to 5-0 on their home court.

The win gave Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla the opportunity to tell reporters about one of his favorite analogies.

“Any fight you’re going to have bruises,” Mazzulla said, per team-provided video. “If you get into a fight and you don’t have any bruises that’s called bullying. If you get into a fight and you have some, that’s a real fight. So I enjoy those.”

The Celtics trailed the Knicks by one point at the half and then outscored New York by 17 in the second half for a 16-point victory.

“I love games like this because it’s going to reveal who we are and what we’ve been doing and where we need to get better,” Mazzulla said. “I thought our guys showed great humility and understanding that we didn’t play our best and we were only down one. … It could have been a lot worse and I thought our guys just stuck with it with the right mindset.”

The Celtics had two stars, Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis, in foul trouble with both players finishing the game with five, while Julius Randle and Josh Hart both finished with four for the Knicks. Boston shot 93.8% from the free throw line by going 15-for-16 while New York shot 70.8% from the charity line going 17-for-24.

Jaylen Brown went 7-for-18 from the field, including 2-for-9 from beyond the arc for 22 points, and agreed with Mazzulla that playing physical games is good for the team.

“I think that’s going to be our test being able to match teams’ physicality night in and night out,” Brown said, per team-provided video. “Tonight was a great opportunity to do so and we did. Games like this are fun, toughing it out, using our physicality and figuring it out down the stretch.”

The Celtics have beaten the Knicks twice this season and will face each other two more times before the season is over. Boston will have to wait until February to square off against New York at Madison Square Garden followed by the season finale between the two at TD Garden in April.