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Joe Mazzulla was thrown directly into the fire after the Boston Celtics came up short to the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals. When Ime Udoka was suspended for the 2022-2023 season — and eventually let go — for violating team policies, the Celtics turned to Mazzulla to lead the charge the following year.
At just 34 years old, Mazzulla, an assistant under Udoka, became the leader of one of the most storied franchises in NBA history. Like any coach in the spotlight, Mazzulla was often criticized during Boston’s run that ended during an embarrassing home loss to the Miami Heat in the 2023 conference championship. A year later, the Celtics won their NBA-best 18th championship.
As Mazzulla heads into his third season as a head coach, he knows teams will be gunning for the Celtics. It’s a challenge he’s eager to accept.
Joe Mazzulla Embracing the Celtics as the Hunted
Teams around the NBA will have the Celtics game circled on their calendars. Mazzulla knows the Celtics will bring out the best in their opponents. Everyone wants to beat a champion.
The Celtics head coach knows his team will be the hunted. Not only does he know it, he’s hoping for it.
“People are gonna say the target is on our back, but I hope it’s right on our forehead in between our eyes,” Mazzulla said during an episode of the “Locked On Celtics” podcast. “I hope I can see the red dot.”
The Celtics are big favorites to repeat as NBA champs, a feat that hasn’t been done since the Warriors did it during the 2017-18 season. Boston brings back its top eight players from a year ago.
With Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown leading the way, the Celtics have finally gotten over the hump. Before their most recent championship, the two stars had played in four conference championships together but had never won a title. They hadn’t even reached the NBA Finals until their meeting with Golden State in 2022.
Now, Tatum and Brown are in the primes of their careers. They conquered one challenge of bringing home their first title. Mazzulla seems confident they can overcome another obstacle of playing with a target on their backs — or on their foreheads.
Mazzulla and the Celtics Have Plenty of Motivation
If trying to become the first NBA team to repeat as champions in seven years isn’t enough motivation for the Celtics, there are a few other reasons for Boston to come out with fire in their eyes.
Tatum was part of a gold meal-winning Olympic team in the 2024 Summer Games, and he will have some extra firepower from it. In two games, he didn’t get off the bench. He played sparingly in some other outings. For one of the better players in the league, it was an embarrassing experience. It’s something that will surely fuel the fire in the 2024-25 NBA season.
Brown didn’t even get that far. He failed to make the Olympic team, while Celtics teammates Derrick White and Jrue Holiday did. Brown was named MVP of both the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals and will use his Olympic snub as motivation.
Mazzulla weighed in on the mindset of his two stars.
“They’re two competitors and they are who they are,” Mazzulla said. “They’re two great, great players. So I’m not going to try to figure out how they’re going to go about it. If they want to take revenge on that particular game, that’s great for them.
“Revenge is healthy and it’s not at the same time. I think — just like anything else — you can have a little bit of it, but I think it’s a short-term thing, and when that runs out what are you gonna rely on?”
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