{"id":39420,"date":"2025-03-04T08:28:17","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T08:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=39420"},"modified":"2025-03-04T08:28:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T08:28:17","slug":"breaking-neemias-queta-returns-to-rotation-and-describes-tough-mazzulla-coaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=39420","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Neemias Queta Returns to Rotation and Describes Tough Mazzulla Coaching"},"content":{"rendered":"
Neemias Queta scored eight points, grabbed 10 rebounds and played a difficult defensive role on Sunday after not playing in five of the team\u2019s last 12 games.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

BOSTON \u2014Neemias Queta<\/strong> walked into the Celtics\u2019 facility to greet a room full of local kids from Project 351, an annual program that partners with the team for a forum on addressing topics like race, gender, religion, disability and orientation. Queta, who admitted he\u2019s still not totally comfortable addressing a full room, told the story of how he started playing basketball, when he began believing in it as a career at 17 and how he handles hate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about being able to block out the noise,\u201d Queta told them. \u201cYou know how many people watch the game, how many people enjoy watching the NBA or the Celtics, whatever it is. So you know you\u2019re not gonna please everybody, you\u2019re not perfect, so at the end of the day, you just gotta be able to embrace yourself and live with what you\u2019re doing \u2026 people are always gonna try and say anything about you, so find happiness \u2026 for example, your family, the hobbies that you like to do, so I lean into what makes me happy more than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Celtics\u2019 two biggest stories early this season became Payton Pritchard\u2019s<\/strong> emergence as the leading sixth man of the year candidate and Queta starting five of the team\u2019s first 16 games with Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is<\/strong> out roughly a year after signing an unheralded two-way deal late in the 2023 summer. His offensive rebounding, help side defense and its positive impact on Boston\u2019s struggling rim protection made him a valuable contributor. Yet Joe Mazzulla<\/strong> stressed consistency and compete. He pulled Queta from his first career start in Atlanta quickly when he didn\u2019t meet expectations.<\/p>\n

Four months later, it\u2019s easy to forget those contributions. Queta averaged 7.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 63.9% over a 15-game stretch during the opening month. Since Porzi\u0146\u0123is returned, his playing time fell to 12.0 minutes per night with 11 DNP-CDs and another 16 where he played fewer than 10 minutes, mostly in garbage time.<\/p>\n

When he returned to the lineup for last week\u2019s back-to-back, he had only logged rotation minutes in four of the previous 15 games stretching back to January. Queta produced mixed results, including a scoreless showing at Detroit after he missed the win over the Knicks on Sunday with an illness. Mazzulla didn\u2019t play him at Cleveland on Friday, and on the following day assigned him, Xavier Tillman Sr.<\/strong> and Jordan Walsh<\/strong> to Maine Celtics practice at the Auerbach Center in Boston for additional reps.<\/p>\n

\u201c(I approached it) the same as always,\u201d Queta said on Monday. \u201cIt\u2019s a blessing to play basketball at the end of the day. I really just come in and do my job, whether I have to play and really don\u2019t have to play, I just find happiness into it and try to make up for not playing in a harder workout, watching more film or being around family. Finding different ways to navigate that \u2026 longer workouts or even just going down to Maine like we did and playing with the guys. I felt like that definitely helped me get back into my rhythm, especially after I was sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queta focused on cardio and positioning in the practice, finding the right places at the right time, and at other times during his layoff joined coaches in extra five-on-five scrimmages. He told CLNS Media\/CelticsBlog earlier this season that his defensive adjustment to Boston\u2019s system proved difficult. In the past, he played drop coverage and now shifts between various defensive looks as the defense\u2019s anchor. That placed scrutiny on him from the coaching staff, along with the upside that he flashed in his best games early on.<\/p>\n

Queta ranked among the NBA players switching onto guards for the greatest percentage of their minutes. An a captivating moment, he held up against Steph Curry<\/strong> in a start against the Warriors. Mazzulla said earlier this season that Queta doesn\u2019t know how good he can become, and that\u2019s why he personally held him to a high standard. He repeated those comments about Queta\u2019s high ceiling on Sunday after he made the most of 16 minutes against Denver, scoring eight points with 10 rebounds and an assist on 4-of-5 shooting.<\/p>\n

Mazzulla also mentioned his belief that Queta would play backup center minutes on any other team. The Celtics won Queta\u2019s minutes by 11 in a seven-point victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just very professional,\u201d Al Horford<\/strong> said. \u201cNeemy is sticking to his preparation, his routine. Even if he\u2019s not playing, you see him here, same energy, working and just staying ready for the opportunities. Tonight, he was put in positions that could\u2019ve gone the other way, but he was taking Michael Porter Jr.\u2019s<\/strong> threes away at the three-point line at times. With Jamal (Murray)<\/strong>, he did it as well. So him being able to defend the perimeter, protect the paint, get rebounds, just staying ready \u2026 he was very big for us tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

An impactful stretch early in the fourth saw him score four straight points for the Celtics inside. His offensive rebound two plays later set up Payton Pritchard for a second chance score to cap an 11-5 run and force a Denver timeout. One play prior on the defensive end, he and Jaylen Brown<\/strong> met De\u2019Andre Jordan<\/strong> at the rim and rejected him.<\/p>\n

Queta remains highly intriguing as an athletic, offensive rebounding and physical finishing force that no other player on the roster replicates. The Celtics signed him to a three-year contract last offseason, allowing for patience with his development ahead of another free agency for Luke Kornet<\/strong>, who\u2019s mostly played ahead of Queta through his own stellar season. They\u2019ve played together successfully in several games, despite neither spacing the floor, and though three centers stand in front of him in the rotation, he\u2019s probably the best player outside of the team\u2019s night-to-night rotation.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Mazzulla can\u2019t stand when Queta lapses, like on consecutive pick-and-rolls against Jalen Duren at Detroit. Queta developed thick skin to the hard coaching, playing for tough mentors in the past, but the wrath he hears from the Celtics head coach is so much that he couldn\u2019t repeat it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you want to hear it,\u201d Queta said with a smile on his face. \u201cI just embrace it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neemias Queta scored eight points, grabbed 10 rebounds and played a difficult defensive role on Sunday in a win against the Nuggets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":39421,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING: Neemias Queta Returns to Rotation and Describes Tough Mazzulla Coaching - 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=39420\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Neemias Queta Returns to Rotation and Describes Tough Mazzulla Coaching - 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