These Trends Stand Out To Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla From NBA Finals History

Joe Mazzulla keeps an intentional approach in every aspect of his preparation with the Boston Celtics.

That includes understanding how past teams reacted to the biggest moments with championships on the line.

The Celtics have nine days between their Eastern Conference-clinching win over the Indiana Pacers and the start of the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. Mazzulla referenced his preparation during that time, including a study of several series over the last few decades.

In that preparation, a number of trends from championship teams stood out to the Celtics head coach.

“If you study all Finals games and championship atmospheres, it’s the team that plays the hardest,” Mazzulla told reporters on Friday, per NBA-provided video. “It’s the team that’s the toughest. It’s the team that’s the most physical. It’s the team that executes at the highest level over and over again. It’s the team that can withstand mistakes.”

Mazzulla added that his study dated back to the 1990s, with several classic NBA Finals matchups to choose from. Mazzulla previously discussed how he studies other coaches across different levels of basketball to examine how they react to various situations. He takes a similar approach to getting the Celtics ready to win four more games this season.

“It all comes down to the same thing,” Mazzulla said. “Once you get rid of the fact that you’re playing in the Finals and playing for a chance to win; it comes down to rebounding, transition defense, offensive execution, knowing your personnel, situational basketball. The team that’s playing the hardest. The team that gets the most offensive rebounds. It’s very simple. Just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s not overly hard to do.”

Mazzulla and the Celtics prioritize not looking ahead and understanding the task at hand. That was true throughout the regular season, and Mazzulla sees no need to change in the postseason.

“The work that goes into winning a playoff game is no different than winning a regular-season game,” Mazzulla added. “You just have to have a heightened awareness to the details. To the effort and the execution amongst all the things that are at stake.”

The Celtics seek their first NBA championship from 2008 with one more series victory needed to reach the destination.