Since winning Banner 18, the past two postseasons have not been pretty for the Boston Celtics. It's hard enough to be eliminated earlier than expected, but making it worse is the fact that the fashion in which they lost both series would suggest that they absolutely should have won both of them.
When scenarios like those play out, teams typically blame the coach, even when it's clear that it's not. Remember the Russell Westbrook disaster in LA? Despite it being painfully obvious that the root of the Lakers' problems was their laughably incompetent roster construction in 2022, they placed the blame on Frank Vogel.
That's among the most egregious examples, but teams blame the coach because they are the easiest to replace. Boston was the exception to the norm on this, as they have not only doubled down on Joe Mazzulla, but went out of their way to build a roster better suited for his style of play.
Many are still processing that Boston traded Jaylen Brown, and while their reasons go beyond Mazzulla, their offseason has been about building a roster that suits the reigning Coach of the Year.
None of the players they added are currently as talented as Brown is, but Paul George fits better as a floor-spacer and team defender, Mitchell Robinson turns their offensive rebounding from a strength into perhaps the best in the league, and Mike Conley Jr. is a veteran who, even at his advanced NBA age, doesn't make mistakes.
When things aren't going to plan, teams typically say it's time to start over with who's calling the shots, but Boston clearly believes that even after their most embarrassing playoff defeat, rolling with Mazzulla going forward is the right move.
Now it's on Mazzulla to prove them correct
Despite the playoff loss, Mazzulla is coming off his best year of coaching, during which the Celtics were so good that it was easy to forget that Jayson Tatum wasn't playing for most of the season. That same success didn't translate in the playoffs, but it was clear that his schemes helped Boston stay quite good despite not having their franchise player.
However, the doubts about Mazzulla are somewhat justified about whether Mazzulla's basketball expertise will carry when it matters the most. Outside of Banner 18, there have been a fair number of series that the Celtics should have won (2023 ECF, 2025 ECSF, 2026 first-round) or series that took too long to win (2023 first-round and 2023 ECSF).
Now that the Celtics are telling Mazzulla that they trust him, these kinds of series can't happen anymore. Boston has made a high-risk bet on Mazzulla Ball, but it's a high-risk, high-reward bet.
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