What We’ve Learned About Joe Mazzulla After 100 Wins With Celtics

BOSTON — Joe Mazzulla recorded his 100th win as head coach of the Celtics in Wenesday night’s 136-86 blowout victory over the Nets at TD Garden.

Now with a career 100-37 record and plenty of experience that wasn’t in place during Mazzulla’s debut run at the helm last season, Boston’s head coach has begun to settle in. We now have a solid understanding of what kind of coach Mazzulla is, and how that translates on a night-to-night basis with a Celtics team that’s on an NBA Finals-or-bust run at Banner 18.

“I think its something to be proud of, something to be grateful for and its just a testament to the people that you have around you,” Mazzulla said of reaching 100 wins. “I think in a business where individual success in highly talked about on a nightly basis — like the box score and stuff like that — to have a group of people playing and sharing success with is important.”

Last season, it was hard to get a read on Mazzulla. The organization threw the former bench coach right into the fire after the Celtics abruptly fired now-Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka. Mazzulla, with four seasons of assistant-coaching experience in the NBA, didn’t get the fairest of shakes with just weeks to prepare for the season when appointed interim head coach.

At the time, the Celtics had just lost to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, meaning expectations were higher than ever since Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown took over as the faces of the franchise. And even despite a gut-punching playoff exit to the then-No. 8-seeded Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals, that high bar hasn’t lowered a single bit. If anything, its gone up a notch with a fresh new coaching staff hand picked by Mazzulla, and a new-and-improved roster, featuring offseason blockbuster acquisitions Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday.

Fast forward to Boston’s final matchup before the 2024 All-Star break and Mazzulla’s come to form, revealing who the Celtics have in their head coach.

Mazzulla, who was very combative when addressing members of the media last season, particulary for Boston’s ineffective 3-point-chucking playstyle, doesn’t shy away from critcism. When the Celtics were booed throughout their recent home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, without LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Mazzulla embraced the fans holding the Celtics accountable. Whenever Kendrick Perkins takes a dig on ESPN, Mazzulla keeps it in his back pocket and hunts an opportunity to use it as comedic material.

It doesn’t matter where the outside narrative leans, Mazzulla is stern to standing by his beliefs and putting the Celtics first above all else — even if that means jeopardizing a potential friendship with opposing team members.

Back when Boston competed in the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament, Mazzulla pulled two jaw-dropping triggers: 1.) Hacking Andre Drummond defensively and 2.) Going for Boston’s point differential requirement to advance and compete in the tournament’s knockout round. That’s an unheardof approach to a regular season game in November, but if its within the best interest of the Celtics, Mazzulla’s all for it.

That team-over-everything approach continues to earn the trust of Boston’s locker room.

“Just seeing how people view him from the outside a little bit, I think he’s very underrated,” Porzingis said. “People don’t appreciate who he is and how he coaches because he’s very young, you can always blame it on him, but he’s very underrated as a coach. I think people don’t see who he is or how he coaches and its easy to not give him the credit because of the talent we have, but he deserves a lot of credit.”

Granted, Mazzulla’s made mistakes and continues to undergo the growing pains experience of being a still-young head coach. At times, the Celtics don’t hunt the interior offense when needed and snowball the turnover total, allowing opposing offenses to overtake the momentum through long stretches. But overall, there’s more credit to be given than taken in the case of Mazzulla this season.

The Celtics needed to deliver right out the gate on Opening Night, and that’s exactly what they’ve done, better than anyone else in the NBA — so far.