The Boston Celtics skated on thin ice in the final moments of Tuesday’s win over the Nets at home, blowing a five-point lead with 13.3 seconds to go, as a Mikel Brown 3-point try sent the game to overtime. Boston eventually won it there, but the fact that the Celtics were in that position shines a light back on a questionable decision by coach Joe Mazzulla–putting center Mitchell Robinson, who has long been known to struggle with free throws, in the game with 3.9 seconds to play. Robinson rebounded a Julius Randle missed free throw, was fouled and missed both of his attempts.
Robinson is 2-for-8 from the free-throw line this season, and in his career, has made just 50.7% of his foul shots.
Celtics Committed Questionable Foul
After the Celtics pulled out the game with a Jayson Tatum jumper in overtime, Mazzulla was asked about the decision that set the late collapse in motion. But he started with the play just before that–an unwise loose-ball foul on Julius Randle by Neemias Queta.
That was the play that stopped the clock at 3.9 seconds to begin with.
Said Mazzulla: “There’s two things there. There’s prevention and then there’s cure. So, you prevent yourself from being in that position by not fouling 94 feet from the basket and so you don’t have to be in that situation.”
Giving Mitchell Robinson ‘Empowerment’
Still, Mazzulla had the option to not put Robinson on the floor in the closing seconds. But he said that, at some point, the Celtics have to show enough confidence in Robinson to let him take those free throws.
Said Mazzulla: “Because we were in that position, there’s times you’ve got to empower guys and you’ve got to say, ‘Listen, we need you to win and to be a different team to be at your best.’ Mitch takes on that responsibility. And I understand he is not—he is working on his free throws, but at the end of the day, what a guy wants is the empowerment and the belief to be like, ‘You know what, you got to make these. Gotta work at it, gotta make them, you gotta know we need you to be at your best to make them.’
“There will be another time when we go to that exact same situation and he will. So there’s two things, there’s that component, the empowering your teammate, the guy next to you. And there’s the prevention piece, we’re never in that situation if we don’t get a bonus foul 94 feet from the basket.”
Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla Defends Controversial Mitchell Robinson Decision After Win