Joe Mazzulla hits Immanuel Quickley with NSFV message after celebration

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzula is the kind of coach who doesn’t take crap from others, both his players and his opponents. In Wednesday night’s preseason action against the Toronto Raptors, Macula didn’t take too kindly to some guard displays Immanuel Quickley.

With less than four minutes left in the second quarter, RJ Barrett pushed the ball in transition against the Celtics and found a wide open Quickley in the corner. The Raptors guard then pulled the trigger on a 3-pointer while standing in front of the Boston bench and drilled it after almost certainly hearing some jeers from the Celtics. Quickley then he mocked the bench with a celebration of the phone call as Macula called a timeout and berated the Raptors guard, disrespectfully telling him to shut up.

“Shut the fuck up,” Mazzulla screamed.

It’s pre-season, so maybe that contributed Macula’s more violent reaction according to Quickley’s taunts. The Celtics head coach must think the Raptors guard is out of his mind considering it’s exhibition season and it’s silly to make fun of others when these games don’t count toward the teams’ win-loss records yet.

Whatever the case, Macula and the Celtics had the last laugh on Wednesday against the Raptors. Some of the Celtics’ starters played regular season minutes (Derrick White played 35 and Peyton Pritchard 32), while two other starters also crossed the 30-minute mark for Toronto (Brandon Ingram and Quickley). In the end, it was the Celtics who pulled out a 110-108 win, improving to 2-1 in the preseason.

Quickley finished with 14 points, four rebounds and six assists, although he shot a terrible 3-14 from the field. Xavier Tillman Sr. stole the show for Boston, nailing the game-winning floater with 0.8 left on the clock.

The Celtics want to survive without Jayson Tatum

Jayson Tatum is making a lot of progress in his recovery from a ruptured Achilles, but there is no indication the Celtics want him back this year.

With the Celtics in the midst of a down year, there will be more opportunities for White, Pritchard and Jaylen Brown as they look to keep Boston afloat, especially after losing several key players this past offseason.

White was excellent on Wednesday, scoring 33 on 10-23 shooting, while Pritchard, despite a terrible 1-11 from the field, chipped in with 10 assists. As things stand, the Celtics look like a borderline playoff team in the East, though bigger breakthroughs from Pritchard or White could solidify them as a lower-tier playoff team.