That’s now three disappointing playoff losses in four years for the Celtics under Joe Mazzulla. He’s likely going to win the NBA Coach of the Year Award, and rightfully so. He did an incredible job this season, instilling his personality and mentality, while carving out a unique identity that helped a roster vastly exceed expectations.
But at the same time, this playoff collapse after being up 3-1 on the 76ers is a very tough look. And what makes it the most frustrating is that it seemed like Mazzulla had levitated to a higher level this season and put all of his shortcomings in the rearview, but he reverted right back once the playoffs started.
All season long, Joe made one bold move after another, and almost all of them seemed to work. But once things switched to the 7-game chess match of the playoffs, Mazzulla got extremely vanilla and stubbornly refused to make changes to his rotation until it was too late.
This wasn’t a great matchup for Sam Hauser, but Joe stuck by him all series long, even when he was getting great minutes from Jordan Walsh. Baylor Scheierman became a pivotal part of the lineup during the regular season and played great in the team’s biggest games, but he barely got a chance in this series.
Even the Game 7 adjustments missed the mark
Finally, in Game 7, with Jayson Tatum ruled out, Joe was ready to make some big changes, but it seems he swung too far the other way. Changes were needed, but starting Scheierman, Luka Garza, and Ron Harper Jr. felt like an overcorrection.
That unit got run off the floor, and RHJ didn’t play again. He finally inserted Hugo Gonzaelz into the lineup and immediately got a spark. Hugo helped the team go on a big run in the first half and changed the game, but then he didn’t see the floor again after halftime, even as the game was slipping away in the third quarter.
Walsh was their best defender on Maxey this series, and the team was decidedly positive during his minutes, but even with Tatum out, he saw the court for just 4 minutes in Game 7. The Celtics finally realized Nikola Vucevic was unplayable and went small in the minutes with Queta on the bench, but it was too little too late, and done without either of Tatum or Walsh on the floor.
Mazzulla must learn from playoff mistakes
All of the answers were there. That’s why this one hurts. Joe had all the tools he needed right in his toolbox. He used them all season long and built masterpieces. But when the lights got brightest, he froze up and went down with a sinking ship rather than being proactive and taking matters into his own hands, as he did all year long.
It’s a concerning trend, and Joe needs to prove himself in playoff series’ going forward, but there’s reason to believe he’ll learn from this and come back better. Hopefully, he’ll look back on this series and season and realize that he lost belief in himself and his abilities to adjust on the fly, and it cost him.
Mazzulla put in the work and proved he can coach. Now, he just needs to do that in the biggest moments.
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