What Joe Mazzulla Told Celtics At Turning Point In Game 1 Vs. Mavericks

BOSTON — The Celtics looked like they were going to run away with Game 1 of the NBA Finals when they took a 29-point lead in the second quarter.

The Dallas Mavericks had a different idea.

The Mavericks chipped away at the deficit and stunningly got it down to eight with 4:27 left in the third quarter when Luka Doncic drained a 3-pointer. The Celtics seemed to be unraveling with the Mavericks making their charge.

But after Doncic’s trey, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla called a timeout. That seemed to be exactly what Boston needed as it responded with a 14-0 run to put away the Mavericks and earned a 107-89 win Thursday night at TD Garden.

“Listen, it’s the NBA Finals, you play against a great team and they’re going to make runs,” Mazzulla said of what he told his team during the timeout. “Just building awareness to why the run was made. And that team does a great job of making defensive adjustments on the fly and sometimes it takes a possession or two to recognize that. Just understanding the run, what can we do to change it and how can we just get better coming out of that.”

With Mazzulla huddling with his coaching staff on the floor to start the timeout, it gave Boston’s players taking a rest on the bench a chance to speak their mind.

Derrick White said Celtics star Jaylen Brown stepped up and had a message for his teammates.

“We just said, ‘Just breathe. The game has started now. This is a moment where our experience shines through. Just breathe. Just keep playing basketball. If you got a shot and it’s open, take it with confidence. No turnovers. Take care of the basketball. and just play our game. We got to get some stops. They made some big shots and just navigate the run,'” Brown said.

Mazzulla, in his first Finals as a head coach, knew exactly what his team needed in that moment. Mazzulla’s stoic demeanor kept the Celtics relaxed in a tense situation.

“Joe always gives us the right message,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “He can be emotionless if that’s what we need and he can just come in, completely even-keeled and give us the right message of what to focus on. And then he can come in and give us some motivation if that’s what we need in that moment, some energy. But I think there he was just even-keeled and giving us some of the answers to what we need to do out there and that was it. We trust him with his leadership.”

After a couple trips to the free-throw line by Brown and a dunk by Porzingis, the Celtics really took off with Jayson Tatum, Al Horford and Brown each knocking down a 3-pointer. And in a blink, a lead that was in jeopardy turned into a 22-point cushion in the final minute of the quarter.

The Mavericks have had success making comebacks already this postseason, including overcoming a 17-point deficit in the Western Conference finals and rallying from 31 points down against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round.

But the Celtics ensured their was no comeback story for Dallas to start the Finals.

“I thought the guys poise out of that timeout was big,” Mazzulla said. “That’s going to happen. They’re going to go on more runs and we’re going to have to fight through them.”