Marcus Smart, JJ Redick praise COTI candidate Joe Mazzula

ByNBAUSA



LOS ANGELES — Ex Boston Celtics veteran and current Los Angeles Lakers guard Marcus Smart has a unique perspective. He is one of only 42 players wear green and white and purple and gold in his NBA career. He’s also one of the few players who answers against the Celtics’ head coach Joe Mazzulla.

That potential inside information didn’t help the Lakers when they hosted the Celtics on Sunday afternoon, as Boston left LA with a 111-89 victory over their hated rival. However, it helped Smart to come to a conclusion that others were finally beginning to understand: Mazzulla was one of the best minds in the Association.

“Joe is a great coach,” Smart said in the locker room ahead of the second meeting of the season between the Celtics and the Lakers. “And he’s been on the team, he’s seen these teams in the past, and he’s had to take notes from there and make his own adjustments. So Joe’s been doing a really good job.”

Before Macula was a head coach with a ring and multiple 60-plus win seasons, he was an assistant coach with the Celtics. And while he was largely unknown in the basketball world before becoming the head coach of the Green Team in 2022, Smart isn’t shocked by what he’s been able to accomplish in Boston, especially this season when The Celtics were expected to struggle without star Jayson Tatum.

“I mean, for me personally, I’m not surprised,” Smart said. “They’ve got a lot of great players out there. These guys have been playing together for a while. … I definitely think they’re doing what I expected them to do, but it’s fun to watch.”

The Celtics continued their winning ways shortly after Smart’s comments, ending the Lakers’ season for the first time since the 2022-23 campaign (Smart’s final season with the C’s) and holding their historic foes to their worst offensive record in 2026.

After the 22-point win, the Celtics are 37-19 overall, an impressive 19-10 on the road and in second place in the Eastern Conference. What did they manage to do? Tatum is rehabbing from a ruptured Achilles and the multiple starters missing from last season is pretty impressive.

what JJ Redick had to say about Joe Mazzula’s ‘phenomenal’ season

Even Lakers head coach JJ Redick said as much, pointing to Mazzula’s role in the success.

“I think Joe is — there’s a couple of coaches that I think are doing the first job this year,” Redick said during his pregame press conference. “And Joe is in that group of coaches, he really does a phenomenal job.”

While Smart and Redick, whom Macula tried several times to hire in Bostonboth share a bond with the Celtics captain, their praise is sincere and doesn’t affect the personal connection. They are simply two basketball experts who understand why Macula is a real candidate for coach of the year.

But, in Mazzulla’s mind, the Celtics they didn’t achieve much.

“The story is that the story isn’t over,” he said after the game when asked how to sum up the Celtics’ 2025-26 season. “We’re just a product of what we do tomorrow and what we do the next day. … We didn’t do anything. All we did was stick to the process of winning on both ends of the floor.”

The next chapter in the Celtics’ unfinished story will feature a Tuesday night showdown with the Phoenix Suns, who are Boston’s Western Conference counterparts in a way, given their surprising 33-25 record.

As always, Mazzulla will use this match as an opportunity to improve, regardless of the result.

“Don’t overreact to a good win or a bad loss and get better in the next game,” Macula reiterated.





2026-02-23 19:19:00

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