Joe Mazzulla’s reaction to Celtics GIVING UP 20-PT lead in Game 1 loss vs. Knicks | NBA on ESPN

Joe Mazzulla’s reaction to Celtics GIVING UP 20-PT lead in Game 1 loss vs. Knicks | NBA on ESPN

questions for Joe. Start with John. Joe, um, second half you guys were shooting almost exclusively three-pointers. I know you talk about take what the defense gives you, but were you satisfied with the shot selection in that second half? Uh, yeah. Yeah, I mean I think for the most part obviously uh over the course of the game you always can find you know five 10 shots that you want to be better at but you know I thought throughout the night uh for the most part we we fought for good looks um you know throughout the game but yeah I mean you can find five to 10 that we could be better at. And so after you guys go up 20 what what changed in in you know what they were doing to to walk that lead down? Yeah, I mean I think we uh we left some of their you know some of their good open. I think Anobi went on a small run by himself. Uh so some personnel stuff. Uh they were able to get out in transition off of some of our misses and then I think they had a 5-0 run off of offensive rebounds. Just so you know, detail stuff that we have to be able uh to be better at and I thought we missed, you know, if you look at that run, I thought we missed some good ones and I thought there was obviously a few that we could, you know, fight to get better at. Joe, can you just take us through the end of overtime there? The um taking the timeout with 3 seconds left. Were you thinking about taking it earlier in that situation or did you just want to kind of see how it played out? Uh, no. I mean, if in uh regulation when you call it, they’re taking both towns and Brunson out of the game and so, you know, I felt like we had uh speed there to be able to get something with two left. We can go get a layup with one of those two guys on the floor that would give us a chance to extend the game. Uh, then I was at half court probably around eight or nine calling and they didn’t see it and then they ended up fouling and so we used it there. So, uh, just a feel thing of of knowing that when you call it, they’re going to go to their defensive lineup and could we get something quick? uh you know with in transition and what was the what were you trying to do on the last play of overtime there with the the way they just defended the play to the to pass to Jaylen? Yeah, just the read uh you know Jaylen’s great in space. Uh you know you know they’re going to foul in that situation so it’s got to be catch and shoot. Uh so just a read to try to create space get a quick catch and shoot for Jaylen. Uh you know ran that play a few times. I think he was able to get uh you know some good separation on there. You know Bridges made a good play. Joe Kristoff’s left with the illness. um how is he doing and how much did that affect what you guys wanted to do the rest of the game? Uh yeah, I haven’t seen him yet. Um uh but we’ll check on him, but I mean obviously it impacts the game with his ability on both ends of the floor and um you know, it obviously changes sub patterns or changes the things that you know you’re able to do matchup wise and uh play call frequency wise. So yeah, I mean I think we felt uh but you know, it’s no excuse. We had plenty of opportunities to do it and hopefully he’s ready for game two. Is that something that came out Uh I mean I found out during the game so uh you know soon as I found out we made the adjustment but um you know I’ll check on him here uh before we leave. Joe, 19 of your 20 shots in the third quarter were threes when they when you take 20 free throws in the first half and you take I think six in the second half in overtime. Do you do you need to switch up sometimes when shots aren’t going down? It just seemed like no one was on and they kept going up. up. I mean, how do you approach that when you look at none of your guys are hitting threes, they’re good looks and they’re open, but it seemed like the more success was attacking the rim. Yeah, I mean, I think you obviously, like we said, whether it’s possession shots, uh, things you could always find 510 that you could be better at. So, uh, to me, I look at the process and the shot quality. So, our shot quality was high. Uh, the points in the paint were even. Uh, we shot one more layup than they did. They shot we shot 10 non-p paint twos. shot uh you know much more than that. And so you have to take a look at the process of what we’re trying to accomplish and uh you know we were able to accomplish uh good results for the most part and like I said there’s probably you know 8 to 10 shots that we could be better at for sure. You scored 30 points in the last 22 minutes I want to say. Um is that just is that just miss shots? Is that bad offense? Like why did the offense completely shut down midway third quarter? Probably a combination of both. Uh you know have to have better play calling, have to make shots, have to make some better reads. So, it’s probably a combination of all those things. Um, yeah, have to be better. What do you feel like in that second half on those 8 to 10 shots you guys had to do differently in terms of maybe accessing the paint or just getting inside on them that like did the defense change at all in that second half? No, I mean I mean without watching it could 8 to 10, it could be a little bit less, could be a little bit more, you know, at the end of the day um you have to make the ones when you’re open. Uh, and you have to trust the process of what you do and the process of our shot quality was good. And, uh, you know, it’s the the the margins and the stuff that put pressure on your shot quality, whether it’s your transition defense, your rebounding, your defending without fouling, and your attention to detail on personnel. All those things play a part in putting pressure on uh, you know, the process of what you’re trying to do on the offensive end. What happened with Sam? How’s he doing? Uh, I think he hurt his ankle, landed on it. Um, and I’ll check on him here before we leave, but I think he I didn’t see the play, but I think he hurt his uh, sprained his ankle. Joe, their their help and recovers to try to keep JB and from JT from getting deep into the paint. They were able to kind of get back to those shooters. Just how does their defensive length, how is that different than maybe a lot of other defenses and how did you try to pry that open? Yeah, I mean they do a good job of um you know, sometimes they put two in the ball, sometimes they don’t. They do a good job of making multiple efforts, protecting the paint and getting out and so that’s where you have to make the shots when you’re open and then you have to make the closeout read at times, you know. So, uh they do a good job of that. But we just have to be better at making that read from time to time. Questions. Joe, you guys obviously bounce back all the time from things like this. Just kind of your general emotions as you as you sit here and kind of stuff happens in the playoffs as you look ahead. Uh look at the process. So again, you know, there’s poss whether you win or lose, there’s possessions that you have to get better at. Um you know, the staff I’ll get better at the things that we need to. We’ll look at the attention to detail stuff that we have and then we’ll look at the process of what we did and see where we need to get better at it. So uh we’ll do that tomorrow. This is the first time you guys have trailed in a series dating back to the 2023. Um, what what type of perspective do you want your players to have now? Do you want them to be desperate? Do you want them to be calm? Like, how do you want them to feel after this one? And and just processoriented. What did we do well? Uh, where do we have to be better? I mean, just sticking to the process, uh, attention to detail and the things that we have to get better at. Thank you, Joe. Thanks.

Watch as Joe Mazzulla reacts to the Boston Celtics’ 108-105 loss to the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the 2nd Round of the NBA Playoffs.

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