Why the Celtics’ Joe Mazzula greeted the morgue environment after the Pelicans’ win

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics they are a respectable 5-2 in their last seven games after winning 120-119 New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night. Boston also owns the third-best record in the NBA, but is the head coach of the Celtics Joe Mazzulla he wasn’t expecting any mention of it (or praise at all) when he walked into the press room.

After a close contest, Macula faced questions about the Celtics’ narrow win and poor performance against shorthand pelicans squad The New England native was ready for this, though, and claimed he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It sounds like a morgue in here,” Macula said during his postgame press conference. “And that’s the way it should be because of where we’re trying to get to.” So that’s the ultimate compliment and we just keep working on it.”

Now 8-32, the Pelicans have the second-worst record in the Association, but their talent exceeds that of a typical lottery team. However, that shouldn’t excuse the Celtics’ uninspiring finish against them.

With 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Boston had a comfortable 120-115 lead. Then, the Pelicans point guard Dejounte Murray he scored a putback layup with 15 seconds left and the Celtics star Jayson Tatum missed two free throws at the other end. Things got worse for the C’s as they guard the Pelicans CJ McCollum made two free throws and guarded the Celtics Derrick White committed a rare five-second foul shortly thereafter.

This gave New Orleans – down just one point – the ball, seven seconds on the clock and a real chance to escape Bantown with an upset victory. But McCollum’s potential game-winner went in and out of the box on the final possession and the Celtics avoided disaster.

Macula was proud of his boys’ effort and told the media that the discussion about the Celtics’ shortcomings after the win speaks to the high standards the reigning champions have to live up to.

“I would say the ultimate compliment is that we’re 28-11 and those are the types of conversations we’re having,” he said. “So it’s a beautiful place to be. I’m serious. I think it’s great. It’s a high standard and high expectations, and we have to live up to it. And so, we all know that. It’s a process towards that.”

Boston went 64-18 during the 2023-24 regular season and a remarkable 16-3 en route to its 18th championship in franchise history. Numbers like these explain why Expectations are high for the Celticswho, despite currently being the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, heard boos Friday night after a 114-97 loss to the Sacramento Kings.

“We’re at a place right now—28-11, third-best record in the league—where we don’t necessarily feel great about how we’re playing. “But the positive thing is that we know we can play a lot better,” Tatum admitted. “There’s so much room for improvement, so the third-best record in the league and the feeling that there’s still a lot we can improve on is a positive way to look at things.”

While Tatum came up short on the charity stripe, he was excellent overall against the Pelicans. The five-time All-Star scored a career-high 38 points and grabbed 11 boards in 36 minutes of action. Additionally, his 10 points in the fourth quarter alone were more than any other player.

Still, just like the Green Team, he knows he can do better. The C’s are an impressive 10-1 in games following a loss, however, and hope to avoid it they keep bouncing instead racking up wins. And they’ll have to do just that to catch on first place Cleveland Cavalierswho are an incredible 33-5 and 5.5 games ahead of Boston in the Eastern Conference standings.

Back-to-back wins are certainly within the realm of possibility for the Celtics. Next, they head north to take on the 8-31 Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night. Boston will look to use this divisional matchup to end their two-game streak of shooting under 30% from deep and assert their dominance over a struggling team.