Joe Mazzulla took advantage of a match with a delicate scenario on the floor of the bottom of the Western Conference to establish its authority. The scene unfolded a little less than five minutes into the third quarter, as Boston fumbled its basketball and its leaders began to lose their nerve. Jaylen Brown had just taken a technical foul for having expressed his dissatisfaction with the referees, and Jayson Tatum no longer had the same edge in defense for a few possessions.
It was at this moment that the Celtics coach decided, when he recalled Jrue Holiday, Jaylen Brown And Jayson Tatum on the bench for the last 7 minutes and 10 seconds of the quarter!
Enough to call your leaders to order and also make others responsible. And the move worked, since Boston won in the end, even if the gap remained the same when the trio was on the bench. On their return, however, Jrue Holiday, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were in all the right places to contribute to the narrow victory.
“On the one hand, it was to develop a group, another identity and, on the other hand, to be able to play without these guys,” explained Joe Mazzulla about this choice. “I thought we weren’t playing very well and so I wanted to find a five who could allow us to move forward. It was the first game of a back-to-back, so I didn’t want everyone’s minutes to be too high. I thought it was an opportunity to find a better rhythm, a better five and try to make a little run.”
A welcome call to order
The opportunity was also perfect for the coach to establish his authority with his leaders, and to send them a message, without batting an eyelid, when he finds that they are not up to par.
“I thought the Grizzlies played harder than us, that’s for sure. We were undisciplined, we didn’t execute our defense correctly, we were lucky to win the match. I don’t think we deserved to win this match, because of a lot of things we did.”
Finally, Kristaps Porzingis was the hero at the end of the match including a counter on Santi Aldama. The demonstration of authority from his new coach was welcomed by the Latvian, who sees in this attitude a fierce desire to win. This even though Boston has the best record this start of the season in the NBA.
“He’s a real competitor,” slipped KP. “He has a sharp side. He wants to win everything, to be the best, to push us to be the best. He showed emotion and I think we needed that at that time.”
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Jayson Tatum | 12 | 36.5 | 50.2 | 36.7 | 79.4 | 0.8 | 7.9 | 8.7 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 27.5 |
| Jaylen Brown | 11 | 33.9 | 47.2 | 37.8 | 73.3 | 0.5 | 4.5 | 5.0 | 3.3 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 22.9 |
| Kristaps Porzingis | 11 | 30.6 | 55.5 | 38.5 | 84.5 | 1.4 | 5.4 | 6.7 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 3.4 | 19.2 |
| Derrick White | 10 | 31.0 | 47.9 | 42.1 | 82.8 | 0.7 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 14.0 |
| Jrue Holiday | 12 | 34.2 | 44.1 | 35.1 | 83.3 | 2.0 | 5.6 | 7.6 | 5.3 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 13.4 |
| Sam Hauser | 12 | 21.1 | 48.8 | 45.2 | 100.0 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 9.6 |
| Al Horford | 11 | 24.3 | 44.3 | 34.2 | 100.0 | 1.7 | 4.3 | 6.0 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 6.3 |
| Payton Pritchard | 12 | 20.5 | 32.8 | 23.1 | 85.7 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 4.8 |
| Luke Kornett | 9 | 11.6 | 78.9 | 0.0 | 75.0 | 1.3 | 2.2 | 3.6 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 4.0 |
| Dalano Banton | 5 | 7.2 | 46.2 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 |
| Lamar Stevens | 3 | 5.6 | 57.1 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 |
| Oshae Brissett | 6 | 11.1 | 17.6 | 11.1 | 75.0 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 2.2 |
| Svi Mykhailiuk | 6 | 8.1 | 33.3 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 2.2 |
