Never play with your food. That's something that parents say to their children when they're young, and it also applies to sports. Even when you're up by a large margin, you never want to let up. That's the mindset that Joe Mazzulla has when coaching the Boston Celtics, and it was on full display against the Toronto Raptors.

The Celtics were on their way to blowing out the Raptors, going up by as much as 30 at one point. The usual stars were out, and in were the team's reserves. However, that wasn't an excuse for Mazzulla to let up. After a questionable call in his eyes, Mazzulla decided to challenge the call, despite being up by 30.

This wasn't taken lightly by the Raptors. Dennis Schroder took to the media after the game and said that what Mazzulla did was disrespectful. After the game, Mazzulla was asked about these comments from Schroder. The Celtics coach declined to talk about the disrespectfulness of the move, but he instead explained why he challenged that call, per Celtics on CLNS.

“Joe Mazzulla says the #Raptors bench thought it was disrespectful to challenge late in Boston's blowout “I think it's my responsibility to my players first and it was a clear opportunity for me to empower the players, let them know that I'm coaching you.” 

On one hand, you kind of understand where the Raptors are coming from. When you're getting blown out, you almost want it to end as fast as possible. The Celtics challenging what seems to be a meaningless call could come off as them rubbing it in your faces. At the same time, though. Mazzulla needs to let the Celtics know that he's got their back. A coach's challenge even while you're up by 30 shows that you care about your players, no matter what.