The Boston Celtics that you have gotten used to watching in previous seasons no longer exist. Okay, that's a tad dramatic, but the C's identity of playing outside the arc, not shooting free throws, not letting opponents shoot free throws, protecting the paint and the rim obsessively, and slowing things way down might not be applicable with the current roster. The new-look C's can't play the same style as the old-look C's and expect things to fall into place.
Zach Lowe of The Ringer talked about Joe Mazzulla's "extreme" play style and why it may not behoove this version of the Celtics, saying:
"Stylistically, I have some confusion... I call the Celtics team extreme because they are just so at the extremes in so many ways... They never get to the rim, they never get to the free throw line, they take a million three-pointers. On defense, they never let their opponents get to the free throw line, they never let their opponents get to the rim. By the way, can that be sustained without your entire big man rotation from last year, including your best rim protector in Porzingis..."
The Celtics were No. 5 in blocks, No. 29 in drives per game, last in free throw attempts, first in opposing free throw attempts, No. 4 in paint points allowed. So Lowe's assessment was pretty much spot on, and he raises a fair question about whether that starkness (in rim protection, and in general) can continue with all the new pieces.
Will Joe Mazzulla be able to adapt to a new look roster?
Slowing things down, shooting tons of three-pointers, and not getting to the free throw line much was a good strategy when the Celtics had players who thrived in an offense like that.
But with Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford gone and Jayson Tatum sidelined, continuing to run that same offense would be trying to fit a circular ball into a square hoop. A Lethal Shooter Instagram video, basically. Do you understand it now?
Joe Mazzulla — although he'll insist that he hates the phrase "Mazzulla Ball" — definitely has a specific style of play, and one that worked in his favor with the rosters he's coached in recent years. But the 2025-26 Celtics look drastically different and won't be best utilized in that style.
Drive the ball, let your centers float around the paint, maybe try to get to the free throw line a little bit more, maybe push the pace every once in a while. Become less "Team Extreme" and more unpredictable. Predictability wasn't a problem when the Celtics were more talented than everyone and could still succeed even when teams knew what was coming. But that's no longer the case.
In a season like this, experimentation is a coach's best friend. Even though if you ask Joe Mazzulla about friends, I feel like he'd go on a rant about Judas and betrayal. But the point still stands.