While not directly mentioning Joe Mazzulla by name, NBC Sports Boston's Chris Forsberg shredded the Boston Celtics' late-game execution during an appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub on April 1.
"I’m not losing sleep over it," Forsberg prefaced before saying, "But I do think, you know, there’s this notion I sometimes hate it when, like, Celtics fans will tell you like, 'Oh, they’ve won 57 games and are so good. We don’t have to worry. They’re experimenting. They’re doing this. They’re doing that.'
"Yes, still try to win the game. Like, be better late. The one thing that does worry me is an execution, and it wasn’t the beacon of a pristine end-of-game playing. And that in that Atlanta series, I don’t care what the obstacles are, whether you know you’re missing your back in the first game, but you were full health on that second one, and you should have been motivated. I do despise that there’s this notion that we can’t nitpick the team because of the success they’ve had. Yeah, it’s great. I still think they’re there should be in the NBA finals, but I can also sit there and say like, why are there repeated missteps at the finish line of these games, and why can’t they get a little bit more creative in these instances and yearn for them to show a little bit of that progress?"
Joe Mazzulla must rein in Jayson Tatum during Boston Celtics' clutch-time situations
Mazzulla is presumably not the one drawing up all of the Jayson Tatum isolation plays late in games, but he's certainly not the one stopping it. Tatum deserves trust in running the offense roughly 95% of the time, but his 6/21 conversion rate on two-pointers and 34% overall pull-up 3-point rate -- notable since that's his preferred shot of choice in clutch-time -- means that the last few minutes of close games shouldn't heavily feature him.
Unless, of course, his shots come as a result of set plays. Mazzulla has to rein in his offense and have the team running a legitimate non-hero ball offense in clutch time.
Because if their current late-game execution continues as is, Banner 18 is far from a guarantee.
It's easy to critique a team that has standards as high as the Celtics, and you can celebrate your team's success with an instant bonus to bet on them at DraftKings! You'll instantly win $150 in bonus bets if you sign up, deposit $10 or more and then bet $5 or more on any NBA game this week. Click this link to sign up with DraftKings today!