Joe Mazzulla has been leading the Celtics to success all season, with Boston having the best record in the NBA at 37-11. Mazzulla is the favorite to win the NBA Coach of the Year Award, and the Celtics, more importantly, are favorites to win the NBA title.
Why the Celtics are different than other NBA teams
Mazzulla places an importance on mindset, and his players are buying in.
"He knows how important the mindset and the mentality is, and that's just who he is,” Kristaps Porzingis said of Mazzulla’s philosophy on Tuesday. “He does jiu-jitsu, he plays chess, he's always trying to evolve also as a coach, as a person, and he transmits that to us... He's a young coach but I think he's very smart."
Porzingis also gave credit to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for being open to buying into Mazzulla's system and allowing themselves to be challenged.
"I think you also have to give credit to JT and JB,” he said. “He can challenge those guys, and if you can challenge those guys, then you can challenge everyone else also. So you have to give credit to JB and JT to be open to that. I think that's a big part of what makes us a great team, and we need that in the long run, and the most important moments in the playoffs."
As for how the team takes Mazzulla's philosophy and applies it to gameplay, Porzingis added, "I mean, we just know it. We just know him. We know ourselves. Sometimes, it doesn't even take words; we just look at each other like, 'Come on, we gotta go,' and that's it.
“If we want to be that caliber team, we need to have that kind of mindset and that type of trust in each other and also not take things personally. If you get taken out of the game, or something is not going your way, or whatever, we're here to just win and do whatever is best for the team, and if we all keep that mindset, it will be a special year.
Mazzulla's coaching style and mentality are critiqued daily, locally and nationally. Still, the Celtics' recent success is undeniable, and there is no perfect system or playing style. With the team on the same page and the talent being elite, the only thing that can stop the Celtics is if they stop buying into what’s been working.