Joe Mazzulla has a unique way to prepare the Boston Celtics to lock in
Joe Mazzulla is a walking, talking puzzle of a head coach for the Boston Celtics. That's seemingly the only way to take Jrue Holiday's description of how the second-year head man gets his players locked in.
“He’s crazy,” Holiday said of Mazzulla (h/t MassLive). “Anybody who knows Joe knows he’s crazy, and that’s pretty much it. But I think it’s, I don’t know, maybe controlled madness. It’s definitely his way of preparing us and I feel like preparing himself and I think it’s been working.
“He honestly makes you lock in because it’s so different, you definitely have to pay attention to the things that he says. Sometimes he might talk kind of fast and he might talk through something and you kind of be like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, slow down.’ But I think really locking in like that helps me because it really makes me go back and be like, ‘Alright, what did he say? This is what we want to do.’”
Boston Celtics must lock in against Pacers in Eastern Conference Finals
It goes without saying that the Indiana Pacers will be the best team the Celtics have faced thus far in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Had Jimmy Butler been healthy, that wouldn't have been the case. Ditto for Jarrett Allen. But alas, those players were absent and Indiana is at full strength.
And not only at full strength. But peaking right now.
Tyrese Haliburton, when he's on, is the most dangerous weapon the Cs are opposite against on this current postseason run. Pascal Siakam may just be the biggest matchup nightmare the Celtics will have faced. T.J. McConnell is the kind of second unit sparkplug that the "stay-ready" group needs to, well, stay ready for, less risk the team losing momentum when the starters sit. This doesn't even get into the countless 3-point shot-makers who could all doom the Celtics at any point.
Boston can't be on cruise control like they were in Game 2 of their first and second round series. They need to lock in.
Hopefully Mazzulla's unorthodox methods has them doing that for as long as the series lasts.