DETROIT — As Joe Mazzulla paced the sidelined at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday afternoon, frustration seeped through to the surface. Almost every time he got up, he either say back down in a heap or threw his hands up in exasperation.
Most of the time, it was a Detroit Pistons offensive rebound that did it. They finished with 19. Other times, an untimely Boston Celtics foul was at the root of the issue. A 17-point first-quarter lead slowly dwindled as the game clock ticked on, and the Pistons battled all the way back to knock the Celtics to 0-3.
Their first 0-3 start to a season since 2013-14. A team headlined by Jeff Green, Avery Bradley, and Brandon Bass. The last time Boston missed the playoffs.
An 0-3 start is uncharted territory for the Mazzulla Celtics
The newness of this Celtics group has been well-documented, made painfully clear by a summer of trades, and the on-court shifts have had some unwelcomed side effects.
Losing effectively their entire center rotation and leading rebounder (Jayson Tatum) for the year eats into their ability to control the boards. But their new, chaotic defensive style does as well.
Boston is doubling more than ever, pressuring the ball full-court and sending help when they deem the risk to be worth it. As a result, the court is scrambled, guys get out of position, and securing a defensive rebound becomes all the more challenging. It’s a problem they need to resolve if they want the losing streak to end.
“The glass will solve a lot of our issues,” Jaylen Brown said post-game on Sunday. “Just get on the rebounds. So, I got to figure out how to get my body ready to use my athleticism to get some more rebounds, or tip it out, or something. But teams have just beat us up on the glass at least the last three games.”
Ever since he’s taken the job, Mazzulla has been rigid in his principle-based beliefs. Process over results. Every time. If the Celtics play the brand of basketball that should lead to success, the wins will eventually follow.
Rough shooting nights, poorly executed performances, and the randomness of the NBA season will inevitably rear their ugly head. No team is flawless. But keeping the process as close to perfect as possible is the best way to win.
Yet the same process that worked for the Celtics of old no longer exists. In its place is new styles of basketball on both ends of the court. With that comes new core principles.
As the season trickles on, Boston will be adding data, results, and film on how effective their new principles truly are. With that could come adjustments.
“We'll make small tweaks throughout the season,” said Payton Pritchard. “It's still three games in. It's funny to say this, but I think it's my first time really going on a three-game losing streak. So, it's unfamiliar, but it's a little adversity. But, you look at this, it will make us better. But we will look at it. And there's new offensive things, defensive things, we can add to help us get better looks and stuff like that.”
And that risk-reward analysis takes place on a game-to-game, quarter-to-quarter, and possession-to-possession basis.
“I think that just comes down to tactically… Earlier in the game, we played a certain way, it cost us fouls to be able to do that, and we have to go to something else,” Mazzulla said. “There's a cost to that approach as well on the other side of the coin. So, we just have to continue to leverage that with the things that we can control.”
The goal of that analysis? Growth.
“It's a lot of new faces. So, we're learning how to play together. People we haven't played with before,” Pritchard said. “What roles? How are we going to help each other be better on the court? So, I feel like tonight, like I said, it was a great step.
“But tomorrow, we're gonna go to war again, try to pull that one off, win or lose, come back the next game, and go back at it. That's just is how I want to take it. I think that's Joe's mindset, it's this organization's mindset, it's just a growth mindset of, can we continue to chip away at it and get better?”
It’s been over a decade since the Celtics got off to a start as slow as this one. That reality isn’t lost on anyone. Not Mazzulla, not the players, and certainly not the City of Boston.
Trades or no trades, Tatum injury or no Tatum injury, the Celtics have standards that haven’t been met.
Yet, a three-game losing streak in January may not draw as many headlines.
Overreactions are inevitable at the beginning of a season. The three games Boston has played thus far are quite literally the only sample size available for the current roster. It’s certainly not a great start.
But it’s still only three games.
“We played a complete game with an effort, now we got to play a complete game with effort and execution, regardless of that,” Mazzulla said. “So, we have to continue to build that. Everybody starts the year off without togetherness and getting through difficult times, but no one anticipates it happening.
“They always think it's going to happen later than sooner, but it happened now. So we got to chip away at it.”
The three ticks in the loss column will rise to the top of headlines, dominate social media posts, and throw the fanbase into a state of despair. Losing stings.
The Celtics feel that sting, too. Brown spent his entire post-game press conference staring at the ground. All that’s left to do is trust the plan laid in front of them.
“First and foremost, we need to maximize our potential,” said Brown. “I think Joe does a good job of that. Focusing on the details, and the process, rather than the result. And the results will come if we stay with the process. We can't be results-oriented.”
Rebounding hasn’t been the only issue. The Celtics have committed far too many fouls (Detroit shot 36 free throws on Sunday). They’ve been a sieve in the paint (the Pistons scored 50). Opponents have feasted in transition (Boston has allowed 57 fast break points through three games).
But perhaps the most palpable problem outside of the rebounding has been the Celtics’ inability to put the ball in the basket.
They’re getting quality shots for their best shooters. Their best shooters just aren’t making the quality shots. Derrick White and Payton Pritchard are a combined 14-of-57 (24.6%) from three-point range.
And that’s an issue the Celtics are more than confident they can fix.
“If we shoot it how I know we can shoot it, then it's probably two games now that we win. So, everybody would be acting a lot different if we were 2-1 right now,” Pritchard said. “So, it'll come. We're great shooters, and we've shown that, so not really stressing over a three-game stretch of not shooting it how we're capable.
“So, it'll come, and we'll go on a run this season, and we'll see how we end up at the end of the season.”
The Mazzulla Celtics are always going to emphasize process over results. It’s how they won a championship in 2024, and it sits at the foundation of who they are.
But when the process changes, the results might follow.
Through the first three games of the 2025-26 campaign, that alteration has not favored the new-look Celtics. And they have 79 more to figure out the right process.