Although in his fourth season as head coach of the Boston Celtics, Joe Mazzulla has quickly established a name for himself in the NBA. After leading the team to one of the most successful title runs in league history, the young coach has also made headlines for his intensity and faith.
Recently, speaking on a religious podcast before the start of the Celtics’ season, Mazzulla made a comment that caught many off guard. Though he said he is happy in his role in Boston now, the coach would like to become a catholic deacon, and he is already taking the first steps to do so.
“I just became eligible to be a deacon, which I’ve always wanted to do,” Mazzula said on the Godsplaining Catholic Podcast. “There we go. I’ve been thinking about that.”
While he’ll have to wait until his contract finishes out before he joins the church, Mazzulla’s Celtics lost their first game of the season to the Philadelphia 76ers. While his comments about what his future holds drew attention, the coach’s reaction to his team’s play on opening night also made headlines.
Joe Mazzulla On The Celtics’ Loss
Though the biggest storyline for Boston this season is the absence of Jayson Tatum and the departure of other key players from their 2024 Finals run, stars Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard have all expressed high hopes for the team this season.
However, those hopes were not proven true, as the Celtics lost 117-116 to the Sixers on opening night. Joel Embiid did play, but wasn’t very impactful, as Tyrese Maxey and rookie V.J. Edgecombe combined for 74 points while Boston gave up a fourth-quarter lead.
Speaking after the game, Mazzulla said the struggles were in part due to the Celtics’ lack of chemistry early in the season.
“If you give up 42 (points in the fourth quarter), you probably give up a bit up of everything,” he said. “But you know, we just got to clean up some of those things.”
“It just goes back to the process of winning… It’s just the details. It’s the transition defense, it’s the timely offensive rebounds, it’s the execution. Just all of those things that go into winning.”
Mazzulla also had a strong reaction when asked a question about Brown’s ‘explosiveness‘ in the season opener. The now-lead player for Boston finished with 25 points, six rebounds, and four assists, and the coach backed up his star.
“I thought he had his explosiveness, I thought he played well,” Mazzulla added. “Started the game on Embiid, gave the game what was required. I think he’ll continue to get better and better, but I thought he played well-balanced basketball on both sides of the floor.”
The Celtics have now started the season 0-1, but based on Mazzulla’s postgame press conference, he quieted any major doubts he has on the team.
Jaylen Brown On The Season Opener
Though they fell short, Boston had a chance to win the game, with Pritchard taking the game-winning shot in the final few seconds. He missed, and though he is a key scorer for the team, he notably didn’t hand the ball off to Brown or White.
Speaking after the game, Brown said it was ‘tough‘ that the team didn’t end up scoring on what was a play Mazzulla designed for him.
“It’s tough, definitely a winnable game for us. We had some opportunities, even at the end, it didn’t go our way,” Brown said. “I thought we played a winnable game, just some crucial errors that cost us…We got a new group still figuring things out, so there’s going to be some ups and downs.”
While the Celtics gave up 42 points in the fourth quarter, Brown also said it was the team’s defense that was a major factor in them falling just short.
“I don’t know if we were too focused on the offensive end, but we can’t just let guys come in here and just do what they want,” Brown added.
On the outside, Boston hasn’t held the same title-expectations as in recent years. While Tatum continues to recover, the Celtics are now 0-1, with a few things to sort out before they play the New York Knicks.
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