4 awards that the Boston Celtics could take home this season
By Sam LaFrance
(Interim) Coach of the Year in Boston?
Boston Celtics Interim Head Coach Joe Mazzulla has his squad playing the best basketball in the NBA. He earned the respect of his players from the jump, and has been able to motivate them ever since. In the NBA it can be pretty difficult to stay motivated and driven to improve when things are going well. Just look at how many big leads get blown each year because teams take their foot off the gas. Not only does “Bazooka Joe” keep his team’s foot on the gas during games, but he’s been able to do so for the entirety of the young season.
After a win over the Miami Heat on Nov. 30. Jayson Tatum explained how his coach has used sandcastles to stress the importance of improvement:
"“Every time we come to film, he shows this video or picture of a sandcastle, and the metaphor of you can build the best sandcastle on vacation, and when the tide comes up it’s going to wash away. Basically, today was a good game, we won, but when we go into film tomorrow or Friday, we gotta build another sandcastle.”"
The Cs have the highest offensive rating in NBA History at 119.9. That rating is of course first in the league this season and is over seven points higher than the Milwaukee Bucks, who are second at 112.1. That record setting rating has improved as the season has progressed. Boston had an offensive rating of 119 in the month of October, raised it to 120.8 in November, and has again boosted it to 124 since Thanksgiving. The 17-time NBA Champions have also gotten better on the opposite side of the ball. After a slow start, the Celtics are now ninth in the league in defensive rating.
The Sandcastle metaphor has kept making Boston better and could land Mazzulla the NBA Coach of the Year Award. He’d be the first Celtics coach to receive the honor since Bill Fitch in 1980. Not to mention he’s had all of this success after being thrust into the interim role just weeks before the season.