Joe Mazzulla must have watched the Super Bowl with a smile Sunday night, because he’s getting exactly what he asked for when it comes to his Boston Celtics.
Not only do the Celtics continue to win, but they continue to overcome in-game adversity in order to do so. That, folks, is Mazzulla’s dream come true.
The second-year head coach recently stated, to the surprise of many, that he wants his team to face as much adversity as possible. He wants the C’s to blow leads. He wants them to have to beat a team that’s playing above its standards. He wants the team to have to battle back from big deficits. Even if they happen to lose a few of those games.
“I just hope it happens 10, 12 more times so we can get rid of the entitlement that we’re always supposed to be winning,” he said after a win over the Pelicans on Jan. 29. “I hope we have to blow leads. I hope that all happens. I really do.”
Why? Because those experiences are learning opportunities, and Sunday was one such occasion.
Boston not only blew a lead, but it also had to overcome a pesky and physical Heat team that was threatening to pull off a comeback win without two of its best players.
Jimmy Butler missed the game due to personal reasons and Terry Rozier went down with an ankle injury during the first half. Boston took advantage of those absences by pulling ahead by 15 points early in the third quarter. That lead, however, dwindle all the way down to four late in the period. Miami then battled back from 10 points down early in the fourth to make it a one-possession game with 1:49 left on the clock.
And that’s when Mazzulla got exactly what he’d asked for late last month.
Boston responded to the adversity in overwhelming fashion. It made every winning play during the final minute – quite literally – to pull off the 110-106 win. It wasn’t perfect basketball, but it was perfect winning basketball amid a tense stretch of play.
From Kristaps Porzingis’ defensive rebound with a minute to go that led to two free throws, to Jayson Tatum’s post defense on Bam Adebayo seconds later that forced a miss, to Porzingis’ tip-out rebound to Jaylen Brown with 15.7 seconds left, the C’s made every play they needed to make in order to seal the win.
The only play they didn’t make – just in case our readers check the play-by-play – was when they allowed Miami to score with 9.6 seconds left. And that was only because the game’s result had already been decided.
“Amazing,” Mazzulla said, while holding back a smile, of the fourth quarter. “Reps. Reps of how it’s gonna be. Reps of how it should be.”
What the coach is referencing is the fact that once the Playoffs come around in April, nothing is going to come easy. Points will be much harder to come by. Physicality will reach its peak. Plays won’t go your way. Whistles will go the other way. There might even be some pushing and shoving. Yet you have to fight through all of that and find a way to win. That’s exactly what Boston did in Miami.
“Just the intensity. Just the physicality,” Mazzulla said of the viictory. “I enjoy watching physicality with poise, and I thought our guys had that throughout tonight. You obviously need to rise to the occasion.”
Boston has done so over and over and over again this season. It’s the only way a team could have a lead of at least 4.5 games over the entire NBA.
Sunday was just the latest example of their ability to overcome everything in their way to grab a win, and to make their coach’s dream come true.