Enough time has passed that it almost feels like a fever dream to recall that, in the biggest game of the Celtics’ season, Joe Mazzulla decided to start Baylor Scheierman, Ron Harper Jr., and Luka Garza alongside Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. Boston, of course, lost that do-or-die Game 7 to the 76ers, capping off a blown 3-1 series lead, and the rest is history, as JB is now in Philly.
In a recent interview with CLNS and Bobby Manning, play-by-play announcer Noah Eagle talked about the game and said Mazzulla was “giddy” about the starting lineup, claiming that, in a sense, he was going for an element of surprise after Jayson Tatum was ruled out, but also that he was genuinely excited to see how that combination looked.
And that sort of captures everything that Celtics fans love and hate about Joe. He’s crazy. But not in a bad way. You’d have to be a little mad to try this lineup in this game and to be giddy about it. But that’s just who Joe is. You have to appreciate his willingness to shake it up when things weren’t working.
He deserves criticism for the lineup, as it certainly didn’t work, but he also deserves credit for shaking things up and trying something so out there that it’s hard to imagine many other coaches in pro sports would have had the guts and confidence to try, even if they believed deep down that it might work.
Also, as bad and questionable as that lineup was, it’s not like he rode them for the whole first quarter and went down with the ship. He got a quick look at it, realized it wasn’t working, and pulled the plug. Boston lost the game and the series for a lot of reasons, but the bizarre starting lineup was nowhere near the top of the list.
A crazy Joe Mazzulla is the best Joe Mazzulla
He tried something, and it didn’t work out. But at least he tried. Everyone can be so vanilla, so stuck in their ways, and so afraid to fail. It’s refreshing to have a coach act in the complete opposite manner. Earlier in the series, many - including myself - were calling on him to be more creative and proactive.
He operated like a mad scientist in the regular season, and it worked, but when the chips were down in the playoffs, he reverted to being extremely conservative and unwilling to adapt or think outside the box, and it ultimately cost the team. While they didn’t win Game 7, at least he went back to his guns and threw away the script.
Weirdly, I’m actually hoping that this was a bit of a wake-up call for Joe, and he realized he needs to be himself and lean into his craziness. He tried it by the book, and it blew up in his face. Hopefully, this lineup and his giddiness about it were a sign of things to come, and we are going to see an even higher level of Psycho Joe this season.
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