{"id":25399,"date":"2025-01-13T06:50:17","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T06:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=25399"},"modified":"2025-01-13T06:50:17","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T06:50:17","slug":"breaking-joe-mazzulla-views-criticism-of-lackluster-win-ultimate-compliment-for-celtics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=25399","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Joe Mazzulla Views Criticism Of Lackluster Win \u2018Ultimate Compliment\u2019 For Celtics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Joe<\/p>\n

The standard is always incredibly high for the Boston Celtics and even more so this season.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what happens with the Celtics coming off an NBA title and expected to be the first team since the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors to repeat.<\/p>\n

So, the criticism rightfully has rained down with the Celtics in a rut over the past month \u2014 they are just 7-6 in their last 13 games. It comes even in wins for the Celtics as they put together a less-than-inspiring performance in a 120-119 win over the lowly New Orleans Pelicans at TD Garden on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

There were plenty of mistakes to point out that almost cost Boston in the final seconds against New Orleans and Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla understood it comes with the the territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say the ultimate compliment is we\u2019re 28-11 and these are the types of conversations that we\u2019re having. So, it\u2019s a beautiful place to be in,\u201d Mazzulla told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston postgame coverage. \u201cI\u2019m serious. I think it\u2019s great. It\u2019s a great standard and a great expectation to have and we have to deliver. And we all know that. That\u2019s the process toward it. What are we, the third(-best) team in the league right now? Which isn\u2019t great, but it sounds like a morgue in here. And that\u2019s how it should be because of where we\u2019re trying to get to. So, it\u2019s the ultimate compliment and we just continue to work through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The good vibes certainly aren\u2019t billowing from the Celtics due to their recent sluggish stretch. But Mazzulla\u2019s right, they still own the third-best record in the NBA and plenty of teams would love to switch places with them.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

And perhaps this is the best place for them. A defending champion not playing its best but with still a ton of time left in the season for the Celtics to rediscover their identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the reference points are different \u2014 there are two great teams in the league that are having historic seasons, so they become the reference point of like, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re not as good because you\u2019re not them.\u2019 And they\u2019re great, great teams having historical years and we\u2019re on our own path that we have to be able to work through,\u201d Mazzulla said. \u201cAnd just because we were this last year, you can\u2019t take for granted the details, habit, execution, togetherness, trust, like all that stuff has to be rebuilt. And I think sometimes when you have the same team, we have this expectation that we\u2019re just going to pick up there and it\u2019s different. Different year, people and different spaces. And so, we have to reestablish that, you have to work that and it just takes time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, this is the space that we\u2019re in. I love the fact that we\u2019re not happy, best place to be in and we\u2019ll figure it the hell out.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The defending champion Celtics have an incredibly high bar this year and they haven’t lived up to it over the past month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":25403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING: Joe Mazzulla Views Criticism Of Lackluster Win \u2018Ultimate Compliment\u2019 For Celtics - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=25399\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Joe Mazzulla Views Criticism Of Lackluster Win \u2018Ultimate Compliment\u2019 For Celtics - 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