Joe Mazzulla achieved an incredible personal milestone at near record speed
No Jayson Tatum, no problem: this was the mantra for Boston Celtics‘ all season. Expected to fold without the services of their best player, the Celtics not only survived, but thrived. They are now 18-11 on the season after knocking off another injury-riddled Indiana Pacers, 103-95, on Monday night.
The Celtics’ development staff deserves a lot of credit for helping turn inexperienced players like Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez and Josh Minot into key contributors. But head coach Joe Macula also deserves a ton of credit for putting his players in optimal positions for success.
Just to further show how amazing a coach Macula is, the Celtics’ last win was his 200th as a head coach. He became the third fastest coach in NBA history to do so. as per Sean Grande, Voice of Celtics Radio.
It helps that Macula inherited a roster that reached the NBA Finals last year and left the head coaching job only because of an off-court scandal. But Macula, just 37 years old, has instilled his own tenacious coaching style on both ends of the floor — and Boston has won 57, 64 and 61 games, respectively, in his first three seasons at the helm, including the 2024 NBA title.
He will be a force to be reckoned with on the sidelines for at least the next few decades.
The Jailen BrownThe Celtics were led well
Jaylen Brown has taken on a bigger role with the Celtics in every facet of the game, and Boston was very good when he took the reins. He had 31 points and nine rebounds in their win over the Pacers, and has been extremely consistent all season – posting 29.4 points per game on 50/36/78 shooting.
The Celtics star made the jump, and it will be interesting to see how he fares when Tatum returns.
2025-12-23 04:36:00
