The Boston Celtics already look like the best team in the NBA. As if they weren’t already one game from making it to the Finals last year, the upgrades of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday are incredible. Porzingis provides floor spacing that was nonexistent with Robert Williams III. Holiday brings championship experience and is one of the best defenders in the league. Losing Marcus Smart might have seemed like a big blow at the beginning of the season, but the Boston Celtics are playing like they didn’t lose his competitive energy. So what is stopping them from winning the Finals?
Three is Company
The Boston Celtics love to shoot threes. A lot of threes. They average 42.7 attempts per game, the most in the NBA and 2.4 more than second place. A considerable number of the time, the three-pointers are falling, resulting in some blowout wins. The Boston Celtics recently destroyed the Brooklyn Nets by 50 points due to their three-point rate. This blowout resulted in the Nets firing their coach soon after.
However, sometimes the threes aren’t falling. Even with all of their talent, the team can struggle to get their shots in. On these off-shooting nights, the team can end up chucking up threes to come back. Especially Jayson Tatum. He will dribble down the court, size up his defender, and throw up a heavily-contested three. Rarely does this shot fall. Even at the height of 6’10, Tatum chooses to throw up threes instead of driving to the paint. This has been a problem for multiple seasons with Tatum and resulted in many avoidable losses.
the Boston Celtics need discipline. Stop shooting so many threes, especially if they are not falling. Have arguably the best player in the NBA drive to the paint with his height to score more. Relying on the three is a good bet, but in the playoffs when the pressure is highest, they can be hard to hit. In the past few seasons with the Boston Celtics and their threes, we have seen they can’t get it done. A lot of the blame for these undisciplined threes? Joe Mazulla.
Coaching the Best
Being a coach for the most talented team in the NBA is hard. Controlling players who are so amazing at basketball can be daunting, as we have seen in the past. Brooklyn and Steve Nash parted ways after he had lost the locker room that had Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and James Harden in it. The Phoenix Suns fired Monty Williams after a collapse in the 2023 playoffs with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Chris Paul. The Boston Celtics appointed Joe Mazulla to the head coach position of the Boston Celtics after suspending Ime Udoka from coaching duties. Much of his schemes are very similar to Udoka’s, but there has been no adjustment.
Many years ago, the Golden State Warriors thrust Luke Walton into a head coaching role, just like Mazulla was. Steve Kerr had to take a leave of absence to fix his back, so Walton had to step in. The Warriors had Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green to coach. But, since Steve Kerr’s coaching schemes were already available, the team ended up playing great without their main head coach around.
Much of the NBA believed Luke Walton was a great coach because of the amazing record the Warriors ended up with when Steve Kerr returned. So, the Los Angeles Lakers hired him. They fired him soon after. The Sacramento Kings believed in him still, so they hired him for four years. He didn’t last. Luke Walton was not a good head coach, he just had amazing talent and a perfect playbook because Kerr had made it. It is like a substitute teacher coming into a classroom with a lesson plan already available. The substitute may not be a real teacher, but they have the playbook to be one until the regular teacher comes back.
Joe Mazulla is in the same shoes as Luke Walton many years ago. He must prove that he is a good head coach and not merely riding on the incredible talent surrounding him. It has been a season and a half since he took over full-time for Boston. He still struggles to discipline the players on shooting threes and rarely draws up plays besides basic pick-and-roll with Porzingis and Brown. The team is incredible, but a better coach like Erik Spoelstra will rip them apart like he did last season. The Boston Celtics are destined to fall again if Mazulla does not step up and coach better.
2 Responses