Mazzulla’s reaction to Riley’s quote about ‘kicking some Boston a**’

ByNBAUSA



The Los Angeles Lakers chose to commemorate Pat Riley‘s expansive NBA legacy of unveiling his statue before their match against the Boston Celtics. As part of his speech, Riley made sure to deliver encouragement to the Lakers to “kick the Boston dick.”

However, with the game in the opposite direction, the head coach of the Celtics Joe Mazzulla had a hilarious reaction when he found out exactly what Riley said.

“Really? That’s great,” Mazzulla replied with a smile on his face, clearly pleased with his team’s day’s work, per clip Posted on X by Daniel Donabedian of ClutchPoints.

“It’s time to kick Boston’s ass,” Riley said at the beginning of X’s take on Oh No He Didn’t.

Of course, it’s the Celtics who are in place of the Lakers. The 111-89 victory was defined by the offensive explosion of Jaylen Brown and Peyton Pritchard, who combined for 62 points and 16 assists.

Brown, who even received MVP honors from LeBron James after his performance, returned with 32 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, while Pritchard returned with 30 points on 10-14 shooting with six 3-pointers. The Celtics held the Lakers to 39.1% shooting and just 30% from three, which happened despite LeBron, Austin Reeves and Luka Doncic starting.

And while the game was largely lopsided, it did bring some historical positivity for James. The 41-year-old became the first player in NBA history to surpass 43,000 points in a regular season in his 1,600th career game.

However, Luka Doncic was the best for the Lakers with 25 points and five rebounds, while Reaves finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Regardless, the Lakers suffered through an overall poor shooting night, shooting just 66.6% from the free throw line, and had only themselves to blame for the loss.





2026-02-23 15:56:00

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