The Boston Celtics have quickly found themselves with their backs against the wall in their Eastern Conference Finals series against the Miami Heat. After throwing away Game 1 on their homecourt, the C's did the exact same thing in Game 2, and will now head to Miami down 2-0 in the series against the Heat. And once again, Joe Mazzulla has found himself at the center of attention for all the wrong reasons.
Even though the Celtics entered the playoffs as the second seed in the East this year, there were legitimate concerns about how Mazzulla would hold up in the playoffs for Boston. After struggling to put away the Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers just to make it to the ECF, Mazzulla has quickly gotten blown out of the water by Miami's veteran coach Erik Spoelstra.
The coaching discrepancy entering this series was fairly notable, but through two games, it has ended up having a far bigger impact than anyone could have imagined. Spoelstra is getting the best out of every one of his players, while Mazzulla on the other hand can't figure out a consistent rotation to get Boston on track. The Celtics have overcome Mazzulla's struggles to this point, but that may not be possible against this Heat team.
Joe Mazzulla's poor coaching could finally kill the Celtics
Mazzulla finally decided to make some much needed adjustments for Boston in Games 6 & 7 against the Sixers last series to save their season, and there was a lot of momentum surrounding this team as they entered their series against the Heat. Yet in just two quick games, all that momentum has completely disappeared, and again, Mazzulla deserves as much of the blame as the players do.
In Game 1, pretty much everything went wrong for the Celtics on defense, thanks to their mind-boggling decision to play drop coverage on Jimmy Butler in pick-and-roll sets. Butler and Bam Adebayo were either getting wide-open midrange jumpers, or kicking out to their teammates at the perimeter who ended up shooting over 50 percent from behind the arc. It was painful to watch.
In Game 2, Mazzulla decided to scrap that plan and actually put some pressure on the Heat, and for the most part, it worked. Butler had to work far harder to get looks he liked, and while he showed up in the fourth quarter, he wasn't having much success prior to the final few minutes of the game. If it weren't for Caleb Martin dropping 25 points from out of nowhere, Miami wouldn't have been in this game in the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately, the small progress made on defense was countered out by the awful offensive outing for Boston. Jayson Tatum was the only guy who came to play in this one, which really hurt because Miami quickly decided to double-team him off of pick-and-rolls all game long. Tatum was in complete control on offense, hitting many of his open looks and passing around the traps often, but he needed support.
This is where, once again, Mazzulla's rotation comes into question. Tatum had 34 points in this game, but the next closest guy to him in scoring was Jaylen Brown, who had 16 points on a hideous 7/23 shooting, and may have ended up turning in the worst game of his career. Behind him were Robert Williams III and Malcom Brogdon with 13 points apiece, and Derrick White with 11.
Yet, in the final six minutes of this game, none of those three guys were consistently on the floor. You almost have to play Brown, but the other three guys were Marcus Smart, who was a complete nonfactor in this game, Al Horford, who cannot hit a three to save his life, and Grant Williams of all people. Williams made his desired impact off the bench, but there was no reason for him to be on the floor late in this game.
It felt like any time the Celtics found some sort of success on offense, Spoelstra dialed up one simple change and managed to send Mazzulla spiraling. Boston opened the third quarter by picking on Kevin Love constantly, but Spoelstra sent Martin back onto the floor, and that was that. The C's also had a ton of success running a lineup with Williams III on the floor as the only big man, but Mazzulla abandoned it despite its success early in the fourth quarter.
Mazzulla seems inclined to value pedigree over in-game trends, which is a moronic way to coach. Horford and Smart shouldn't have been sniffing the floor in the fourth quarter, and Williams should have been off the floor midway through the fourth. It's not conventional, but if the Celtics wanted to win this game, their closing lineup should have been White-Brogdon-Brown-Tatum-Williams III.
Instead, Mazzulla rode with his starters and got burnt. It's wildly frustrating to see the Celtics be so stuck in their ways, because Spoelstra's ability to change how the Heat operate on the fly is literally winning Miami games. Mazzulla is either unable to recognize this, too slow to make changes, or simply doesn't care. None of those outcomes are ideal for Boston.
At this point, nobody really knows where the Celtics are going to go here. It feels like their best lineup involves going small with White in the starting lineup and Williams III starting, but the chances of Mazzulla benching Horford are slim to none. The problem is that it needs to be done, or else the Celtics are toast. But we haven't seen Mazzulla make logical decisions throughout the entire postseason, so why would that start now?
The C's have the talent to win this series, but unless their head coach puts his players in position to win, this series may not end up finding its way back to Boston.
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