If Jayson Tatum’s “MVPesque” level of play and more broadly the collective’s enormous offensive efficiency are clearly the main factors that explain the Celtics’ thunderous start to the season (18 wins and 4 losses), we must not forget either. to credit the work of Joe Mazzullaon the bench.
Appointed as interim coach at the end of September, after the Ime Udoka episode of which he was the first assistant, the 34-year-old technician has been guiding the 2022 finalists, for almost a month and a half, towards the top of the league.
An accomplishment at the highest level that was not won in advance, for the one who was still a “head coach” in the NCAA second division two years ago. And yet, the facts are there: under his leadership, the Celtics are unquestionably the best team in the league this season, and it seems, beyond the facts on the ground (the best record and the best offense in the league), that his speech transcends the players.
How ? Jayson Tatum explains.
” A metaphor, that of the sandcastle that we build when we are at the beach, and which disappears when the tide rises. His message, for tonight for example, is that we played a good match, but when we prepare the next one for the video, we will build a new sandcastle. » detailed “JT” as well after the win over the Heat. ” It seems a bit silly like that, but we got into the game. »
In other words, Joe Mazzulla seeks to maintain among his players a level of motivation and competition that is always high regardless of the opponent, in order, ideally, to never know evenings without. A message received 5/5 by his troop, in view of the balance sheet of the Celtics after almost a quarter of the season.
” It’s a choice we make, every day, to be the best version of ourselves. To be aware that every night, we will face teams motivated to fight us continues the winger, author of 49 points against Miami. ” And I think Joe did a good job of making sure we were never satisfied or complacent. We are coming off a defeat in the Finals, so we are trying to move in the right direction, to get back to this stage of the competition. »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Jayson Tatum | 20 | 36.5 | 48.1 | 34.7 | 87.0 | 0.9 | 6.8 | 7.7 | 4.6 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 30.8 |
| Jaylen Brown | 19 | 35.4 | 50.7 | 34.4 | 83.2 | 0.9 | 5.6 | 6.5 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 2.8 | 26.1 |
| Malcolm Brogdon | 17 | 22.7 | 48.8 | 46.9 | 85.7 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 14.0 |
| Marcus Smart | 19 | 32.3 | 44.1 | 35.1 | 85.7 | 0.3 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 7.5 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 3.1 | 11.6 |
| Al Horford | 17 | 31.2 | 55.6 | 48.7 | 62.5 | 1.2 | 5.1 | 6.3 | 2.6 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 11.2 |
| Derrick White | 21 | 26.3 | 48.4 | 45.3 | 89.5 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.2 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 2.6 | 10.9 |
| Grant Williams | 20 | 28.1 | 52.9 | 45.2 | 84.6 | 0.8 | 3.9 | 4.7 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 2.8 | 9.1 |
| Sam Hauser | 21 | 17.5 | 52.3 | 48.9 | 77.8 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 7.9 |
| Payton Pritchard | 13 | 11.9 | 41.7 | 40.0 | 62.5 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 5.3 |
| Luke Kornet | 16 | 13.6 | 68.2 | 40.0 | 93.3 | 1.3 | 2.6 | 3.9 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 4.8 |
| Blake Griffin | 8 | 12.6 | 50.0 | 40.0 | 83.3 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.9 | 4.1 |
| Mfiondu Kabengele | 1 | 8.3 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| noah vonleh | 15 | 9.4 | 50.0 | 33.3 | 100.0 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 2.6 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 1.7 |
| justin jackson | 8 | 5.6 | 20.0 | 22.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.8 |
| Jd Davison | 3 | 2.8 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
