Celtics are getting harsh Joe Mazzulla lesson right now

Boston Celtics losses had been hard to come by over the past month or so. The team ripped off a clean 10-2 stretch from Nov. 12 through Dec. 7, turning doubters into believers in this Jaylen Brown-led squad.

Unfortunately, the Celtics have gotten some time off due to the NBA Cup, and it’s disrupted their momentum. They dropped both of their games over the past week. Monday’s loss to the Detroit Pistons wasn’t nearly as bad as what happened last Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks. Boston couldn’t buy a basket against the Bucks in the second half, and basically rolled over and died when things stopped going their way.

Detroit’s a good team. The Celtics played them well, but just couldn’t make enough shots to get across the finish line. There were moments sprinkled throughout the contest where the Cs struggled to compete with the physicality of the Pistons, but they gave it their best shot. They just don’t have the size needed for some of these matchups.

Joe Mazzulla is going to do whatever he can to make the most of a practice day

Head coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters after the loss that he felt his team matched the physicality just fine. This may be a case of “actions speak louder than words,” though.

The Celtics shared a mashup from Wednesday’s practice on social media. The 30-second clip showed highlights of what was undoubtedly a physical session for the Cs. Players were wrestling one another for loose balls, hitting the floor, and climbing over each other’s backs.

It truthfully looked like they were running some football-type drills to simulate a physical setting like Monday’s loss.

As if you needed more evidence that the squad went to war at the Auerbach Center, rookie wing Hugo Gonzalez showed up to his media availability bleeding from the neck.

“I got put in a fight out there,” he told the media in a post-practice scrum. “So, just basically fighting against big boys out there. Just some scratches, that’s it.”

Wild, Mazzulla-led practices have been a staple throughout the Rhode Island native’s tenure as Celtics head coach. Earlier this season, reporters could hear “machine gun noises” being played at the facility while waiting for a November practice to wrap up.

He’s going to do whatever it takes to condition his players to win games. That’s the reality. Whether it has been running Oklahoma drills, simulating war, or whatever else Mazzulla has up his sleeve, the players have come to accept they can never be sure what’s going to happen at any given practice.