Joe Mazzulla is pushing all the right buttons with the Celtics

14.12.2022 22:00

Mazzulla gave Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown an earful before Tuesday's win over the Lakers.

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It was another day and another win for the Boston Celtics on Tuesday after a thrilling fourth-quarter comeback and runaway overtime period against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Jayson Tatum took over down the stretch and finished with a game-high 44 points, further solidifying his spot in the MVP rankings. And Jaylen Brown led all scorers in OT with five of his 25 points.

The two Jays are undoubtedly one of the best tandems in the NBA and a big reason why the Celtics hold an NBA-best 22-7 record, seemingly destined for a playoff clash with the Milwaukee Bucks for Eastern Conference supremacy.

But interim head coach Joe Mazzulla deserves a lot of credit too.

Even after nearly winning a title last summer, a return to dominance wasn’t a certainty for Boston with the shadow of Ime Udoka’s suspension hanging over the team at the start of the season. Players were caught off guard. Vibes appeared to be low.

Oddsmakers still had the Celtics favored to win the NBA title after a strong offseason, but there was reason to question why. Udoka had been credited for the team’s rise into a conference champion. Now, he was being replaced by a virtual unknown in his first head-coaching gig at just 34 years old.

But two months into the season, Mazzulla has pushed all the right buttons. Normally mild-mannered, he seems to also know when it’s time to bring some fire. After consecutive losses to the Warriors and Clippers, he told Tatum and Brown they needed to get their [expletive] together before Tuesday’s game. That’s exactly what they did.

"He set the tone for us and told us we need to get our s*** together"

Jaylen Brown on Joe Mazzulla's pregame message pic.twitter.com/2keRlFhCKM

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) December 14, 2022

“Before the game, he just let his presence be felt,” Brown said. “He let us know from the top to the bottom, starting with me and Jayson, we gotta be better and everybody else is going to follow suit. So he went directly at us, encouraging us to be better, embracing the challenge.”

The Celtics have the best offense in the NBA and remain strong defensively. It’s led to the league’s best net rating. That’s the result of a strong roster from top to bottom led by two stars playing up to their potential. And now we have to factor in a coach who might be just as good as his predecessor, if not better.

This is a team that can absolutely get back to where they left off last season. It’s truly remarkable when you think about how the season started.

The Tip-Off

Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

AP Photo/Charles Bennett

The NBA gave its regular-season award trophies a rebrand on Tuesday, naming them after NBA legends and giving them a new look to boot. The league even introduced a new Clutch Player of the Year award.

These are the legends each award is named after:

MVP: The Michael Jordan Trophy
Clutch Player of the Year: The Jerry West Trophy
Defensive Player of the Year: The Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy
Rookie of the Year: The Wilt Chamberlain Trophy
Sixth Man of the Year: The John Havlicek Trophy
Most Improved Player of the Year: The George Mikan Trophy

Twitter, as usual, had jokes about what the trophies look like. But I personally like the concept. Our guy Bryan Kalbrosky made a list of players who could win the inaugural Jerry West trophy.

One to Watch

(All odds via Tipico.)

John Jones-USA TODAY Sports

New York Knicks (+150) at Chicago Bulls (-4.5, -175), O/U 225.5, 7:30 PM ET

Winners of four straight games, the Knicks visit Chicago tonight and I love their chances to cover as 4.5-point dogs. During this streak, they’ve been actual DOGS on defense, holding teams to a league-best 94.4 points per 100 possessions. As long as Jalen Brunson can play through a foot injury, I like their chances to muck up this game and potentially come out on top.