MIAMI (AP) – Joe Mazzola’s roller coaster ride season is at its lowest point. And with the Boston Celtics now on the brink of elimination, the first-year coach blames himself.
The Celtics are in the kind of trouble no team in NBA history has escaped, trailing Miami 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals after 128-102 Heat Romp Sunday night that may not have been close to the result will make it appear.
“I think the most important thing is to stick together, and then I have to be better,” Mazzola, the youngest coach in the NBA at 34, said. “I have to put them in better positions. I have to get them ready to play. I have to have a plan.” The match is ready for us to be physical and get it done, and it’s important that we stick together.”
It was a disaster series for the Celtics. They let the Heat shoot 52% from the field, 48% from 3-point range — compared to the Celtics’ 29% effort from deep — and the dam may have broken in game three. After games 1 and 2 were decided late by Boston, with the Heat finding their way both times, this was never in question.
“I didn’t find them ready to play,” Mazzola said.
That’s an indictment, especially after the past eight months or so have passed since Mazzulla. He wasn’t supposed to coach the Celtics this season, getting the job on a temporary basis out of necessity once Emi Udoka was suspended. The regular season was one hit after another; Clearing the interim mark just after the midseason, the Celtics coached in the All-Star Game and finished third in Coach of the Year voting.
But this series made all those good moments seem long forgotten. He was criticized for not using a timeout in the third quarter of Game 1 when Miami scored 46 points to completely change the game from that contest. He was heavily criticized for not being fiery enough either, although players said the problems shouldn’t be all on the coach.
“I think it’s a team effort,” Celtics forward Jaylen Brown said.
Celtics center Al Horford also had Mazzola’s back, insisting there was enough blame to go around him now.
“At the end of the day, it falls to every player,” Horford said. “And we knew what we had to do. We knew how big this game was. As a player, I take responsibility because we didn’t have what we needed. That’s what that is.”
The phrase in sports parlance is “losing the locker room”. For a coach, this is often pretty awful – and either means the players aren’t motivated, aren’t prepared, or just don’t listen anymore.
Whether this happened or not is not clear, and it does not really matter. In a city that saw the Red Sox make history from trailing 3-0 in the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees in 2004, the Celtics now need the same miracle.
“I have to be better, figure out what this team needs to do to make sure they’re connected, that they’re physical and that they’re together by the time we hit the ground,” Mazzola said.
Can it happen?
“I’m not sure,” said Mazallah.
He has until Tuesday night to find out.
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