Joe Mazzula’s recipe for the new Celtics
THE Celtics were relatively spared from physical problems at the beginning of the season. Except for the rupture of the Achilles tendon Jayson Tatum happened during the last playoffs, only Luca Garza missed the match due to a real injury. The interior thus missed the second game of the season against the Knicks, due to the concussion protocol. Other than this instance, the rare absences on the Boston side were for personal reasons.
And faced with a team rebuilt during the offseason, which must both integrate new faces and learn to live without Jayson Tatum, Joe Mazzulla decided not to freeze his rotation. The coach prefers to adapt to the current state of form and give playing time to those who are ready.
“I appreciate everything the guys are doing to keep their bodies ready to play, and the league is getting faster and faster.”, points out Joe Mazzula. “That’s one of the reasons why it’s important not to have a fixed rotation, to play with 11 or 12 guys. It’s important to have players in good shape.”
The result: Only three players exceed the 25-minute average this season, Derrick White (32.9), Peyton Pritchard (32.1) and Jaylen Brown (32.1), compared to seven players above that threshold last season.
Rely on the newest player
In an NBA where the game is speeding up year after year, the Celtics are going against the tide with just 96.4 possessions per game, the lowest pace in the entire league. In this season, in which the ambitions of the club are clearly reduced, Joe Mazzulla takes the opportunity to offer more opportunities to his bench. This allowed for some nice surprises, e.g Jordan Walsh or Josh Minott.
Limited to the end of the bench for the Wolves, Josh Minot has earned his place thanks to his defense and rebounding. He even started nine times. He now plays 20 minutes a night, which is more than triple the playing time last season, when he got just six minutes a game…
“The key to success in this league in recent years has been energy, toughness, physical impact all over the pitch, speeding up the game and imposing your own rhythm”analyzed by Joe Mazza. “That’s why we can rely on a different player every night, the one who is the freshest, mentally and physically.”
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | That | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Ft | Pts |
| Jailen Brown | 15 | 32:04 | 50.3 | 34.9 | 77.2 | 0.9 | 4.6 | 5.5 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 3.1 | 27.5 |
| Payton Pritchard | 15 | 32:08 | 44.1 | 33.1 | 82.5 | 1.0 | 3.3 | 4.3 | 5.0 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 1.9 | 16.7 |
| Derrick White | 15 | 32:52 | 35.9 | 30.5 | 82.5 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 4.0 | 5.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 15.9 |
| Anfernee Simmons | 15 | 24:32 | 41.3 | 40.4 | 84.0 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 13.3 |
| Nehemiah Kueta | 15 | 24:28 | 61.2 | 0.0 | 59.3 | 3.1 | 5.0 | 8.1 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 3.3 | 9.1 |
| Josh Minott | 14 | 20:09 | 47.5 | 38.1 | 78.9 | 1.9 | 3.3 | 5.2 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 7.6 |
| Luka Garza | 14 | 14:39 | 58.1 | 38.1 | 76.9 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 4.2 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 7.1 |
| Sam Hauser | 15 | 21:32 | 32.0 | 33.3 | 75.0 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 3.5 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 6.6 |
| Jordan Walsh | 11 | 16:44 | 48.8 | 41.2 | 75.0 | 1.2 | 2.9 | 4.1 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 2.4 | 4.5 |
| Hugo Gonzalez | 11 | 12:22 | 45.2 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 3.0 |
| Baylor Scheierman | 11 | 10:16 | 55.0 | 52.9 | 100.0 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 2.9 |
| Ron Harper Jr. | 3 | 5:00 | 42.9 | 33.3 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 2.7 |
| Xavier Tillman | 8 | 8:08 | 50.0 | 25.0 | 0 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 2.5 |
| Chris Boucher | 7 | 10:51 | 31.8 | 8.3 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 2.4 |
| Amari Williams | 2 | 3:30 | 50.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 |
2025-11-21 11:32:00
