BOSTON — “Find five guys that will rebound.”
A quote that may define the entirety of the Boston Celtics’ 2025-26 campaign was uttered before the season even began. After a 31-point preseason win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Joe Mazzulla fielded a question about his unusual substitution antics.
When a player gave up an offensive board, they got benched. Sometimes, all five guys who were on the floor for the mistake got yanked. He employed the strategy for most of the preseason.
Despite their monster win, Boston gave up 21 offensive rebounds in that preseason game. In that moment, Mazzulla could not have possibly cared less about the win. He fired back at reporters who prodded about his rebounding philosophy, doubling down on the message.
“What are you seeing?”
“I don’t see five guys rebound. So then I go get five, and they rebound. It’s that simple.”
That simplicity did not carry over into the first three games of the regular season. Mazzulla’s harsh preseason tactics weren’t enough to help Boston escape the chasm of rebounding despair. And it came to a head in Detroit.
The Celtics gave up 19 offensive rebounds to the Pistons, including nine in the fourth quarter alone. It was an unmitigated disaster on the glass. “Teams have just beat us up on the glass at least the last three games,” Jaylen Brown said after the loss.
It was a problem. A problem that, if it went unresolved, could put the Celtics’ season in dire straits. No rebound? No stop. No stop? No defense. No defense? No wins.
But something changed.
Celtics finally answered Mazzulla's rebounding pleas
“We just turned that switch on,” said Josh Minott, who pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds against Cleveland.
It began in New Orleans. The Celtics, staring down the barrel of a 0-4 start to the regular season, took on a Pelicans squad that was down Zion Williamson and Kevon Looney. The frontcourt was on the smaller side, but Boston’s rebounding showed noticeable improvement.
Just two days later, against the Cleveland Cavaliers—one of the favorites to come out of the East this year—that improvement took on new meaning.
With Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen lying in wait, the Celtics took the floor against a true challenge on the boards.
And they dominated.
“I thought what carried us through the first half was our defense and our ability to rebound the basketball,” said Joe Mazzulla. “I think they had one or two offensive rebounds in the first half. They got a lot in the second half.”
In the first half of Wednesday’s contest, the Cavs only managed to corral two offensive rebounds. Both were Mobley.
The first was a tip-back attempt that was quickly thwarted by Minott’s boxout. The ball bounced off the rim, and Jaylen Brown was there to snag the real rebound opportunity. The second was a back-rim De’Andre Hunter three-point attempt that bounced back out to the foul line, where only Mobley could reach it.
Outside of two boards, one of which didn’t even earn Cleveland an extra possession, the Celtics shut down the Cavs on the glass.
There was no tactical change. Boston didn’t make any on-court adjustments. They simply made a conscious decision that rebounding needed to be a bigger priority.
“You have to make the choice every day, when you wake up, that you're going to rebound on both ends of the floor,” said Mazzulla. “When you wake up in the morning, you got to just make that choice. So, it's not something that we figured out.
“You have to remind, and watch it tomorrow, and then we're going to either do good or not, and then we're gonna remind and do it again. So, it's just one of those habits and disciplines that never goes away that we just constantly have to work on.”
Against Detroit, Neemias Queta boxed out too deep into the paint. Derrick White jumped before he boxed out his man. Brown got caught ball-watching on a few possessions. The Celtics got dogged in the rebounding department, and it was all on them.
So, when the Cavs came to town, they were a hivemind.
“Collectively, we're all trying to make sure our man doesn't get it, and then after that, it's a team effort to make sure, okay, now my man doesn't have it,” said Minott. “Now it's like, which one of us is gonna go get it? So, it's just a collective effort on the rebounding, for sure.”
On Wednesday against the Cavs, Queta grabbed 13 rebounds. Brown and White added five apiece.
Effort is at the center of rebounding. It’s a hustle stat. But it’s also a skill.
“Rebounding is an art,” said Brown. “It's a skill. Just like shooting, just like passing, just like anything else. You got to have timing, you got to have a feel for where the ball is gonna come off. Long shot, long rebounds. You got to get into the fight. It's an art form, so just being able to watch the film and see where we made mistakes. But we were just terrible on the glass in the last three games. We were able to come out tonight and make up for that.”
Inherently, this Celtics team isn’t great at rebounding. Queta is massive, but he’s still prone to some lapses. Luka Garza isn’t the most athletic big man. Xavier Tillman isn’t the tallest. Jayson Tatum, who led the Celtics in rebounding last season, may not be back at all this season.
It’s a disadvantage Boston will have to work through. But they’re doing just that. And the Cavs game was a proof-of-concept.