NBA
What are Joe Mazzulla’s weirdest statements given to the media?
The Celtics easily won their 18th NBA Championship title with a coach who, in addition to his impressive work, also had some unusual and quirky statements.
Mazzulla is the head coach of the Boston Celtics in the NBA. He joined the team as an assistant coach in 2019 and became the interim head coach before the 2022-23 season.
In his second season, he led the team to 64 wins and an NBA championship, holding the highest winning percentage for any coach in NBA history with over 150 games coached. He is also the youngest head coach to win the NBA Finals since Bill Russell in 1969.
Joe Mazzulla is unconventional and idiosyncratic. He follows his own path and isn‘t bothered by others’ opinions. And that’s most present in his interviews and press conferences. He speaks with an almost impossibly expressionless tone, staring directly into the reporters’ eyes as he dispassionately gives whatever answer he thinks they deserve.
During recent NBA Media Day Joe Mazzulla was asked if he had started game planning for this season while on the duck boats at the championship parade. He replied, “I mean, we were chanting ‘defense!’, just cause I think it’s an important identity to have and I think that the same level of intensity that the parade brought is the level of intensity you need to have throughout a season so there is definitely a connection there. That is important.”
Or he will hit you with some practical advice and get philosophical about it, “Never wear a suit ever again,” Mazzulla said to reporters about the lessons he took from the interview. “I wore a suit, and I was really uncomfortable. I’m really pissed I did that.”
Brawl with Barkley
In March 2024, TNT analyst Charles Barkley criticized Mazzulla, when he contested Suns Royce O’Neal’s shot in a dead ball situation during game time. The hall-of-famer said he would’ve knocked out the coach if he tried doing that to Barkley.
“I’m always up to get knocked out,” Mazzulla said. “I think that’s important, too. ... If you can’t go through the day hoping you don’t get knocked out, I don’t know what do you do.”
Not invited to the funeral
The Celtics had a dominant season, finishing with the best record in the Eastern Conference by 14 games. They went 16-3 in the playoffs and are favorites to win it all again with their star players Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
So when Joe was asked about the pressure this season to perform these were his words.
“It’s not pressure,” Mazzulla said. “There’s nothing anyone in this circle can do to me that’s going to impact my identity and who I am as a person or a coach. We’re either going to win or we’re not, and 40 years from now, none of you are invited to my funeral and that’s it.”