Explaining His “Huge Area of Growth” in His Second Year as Head Coach of the Celtics
The Celtics had a much-needed break in their schedule that allowed them to practice during the regular season. The timing couldn’t be better, as they needed to adjust.
The Celtics took advantage of a much-needed respite in their schedule after playing seven games in 12 days to practice, a fixture at the Auerbach Center that is becoming less and less often as the regular season goes on.
The Celtics need to adjust, so the timing couldn’t be better. Despite the purple and gold playing without LeBron James and Anthony Davis, they are currently 37-12 and have the best record in the NBA. However, they just suffered a 114-105 setback to the Los Angeles Lakers. The TD Garden crowd jeered them during their performance.
A day before Sunday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies and Marcus Smart’s return to TD Garden—albeit in street clothes owing to a serious right ring finger injury—head coach Joe Mazzulla expressed his “sense of excitement” about practicing.
Following the practice on Saturday, Boston’s bench manager stated that “re-connectivity and the re-emphasis of our early offense” were top priorities. I believe that occasionally, myself included, I’ll disrupt the game’s flow by calling a set that the guys miss, seeing a set that I see, but they seeing something else, and then we’re kind of out of sync for the first eight seconds of the shot clock.
“So, just keep working on our defense, make sure the game is connected, and connect on our early offense reads and early offense points of emphasis. You have a poor offense when your transition defense is poor. Whether it’s your individual defense or the pick and roll coverage, your poor rebounding is a result of your shift activity on the first line of defense. Just sort of reconnect on those fronts, then.”
Mazzulla, who is leaving a greater mark on this Celtics squad this year after being put in “survival mode” when he was thrown into the position the previous season, said, “I think that’s a huge area of growth for me with this team this year.” Mazzulla also helped them win on the margins. How can I call the appropriate play at the right time, let them call the sets, and let them see what they see in our early offense reads without negatively impacting our game’s rhythm or connectivity?
“In those rare instances of brilliance, we excel at it. Thus, that was a worthwhile discussion we had today. And I am conscious of that for myself.
