As the Boston Celtics celebrate winning their 18th championship in franchise history after they beat the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals in five games, several figures within the team explain how they were able to get it done. For Celtics head coach Joe Mazzzulla, he was on the show “Pardon My Take” where he talked about watching the 2008 film “The Dark Knight” with Jayson Tatum as it helped them put integral aspects into perspective.
“So when we were working on how we're going to handle expectations, pressure,” Mazzulla said. “This is what we need to do. So we're watching the scene where Batman goes into the interrogation room with Joker and they're talking and Batman's like why do you want to kill me? And like the Joker starts laughing. He's like, I don't want to kill you. He's like, I need you. You complete me. And it was like the coolest moment. Like good and evil has to coexist. Differences have to coexist in order to bring the best out of each other and the people around you. So like, Dark Knight, great movie.”
If there was one player that was heavily scrutinized throughout his career and especially this season, it has been Tatum as Mazzulla has been working for his star player to focus on the more important aspects. What resulted was one of his best seasons ending with an NBA championship.
Mazzulla talks how Celtics, Tatum were built for “stressful environments”
Besides Tatum, Mazzulla was also held under a microscope this season as the Celtics also had lofty expectations last year where the team lost to the eighth seeded Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Championship. While they forced a Game 7 after being down 3-0, it still ended in a loss where they could not go back to the NBA Finals after doing so in 2022 against the Golden State Warriors.
However, those painful experiences in some ways set up Boston for greatness this season as it prepared them for these “stressful environments” as Mazzulla said. He also would say that it is vital to see how a team can “handle yourself under those stressful situations” according to Jay King of The Athletic.
“You have to talk about it all the time,” Mazzulla said, “but you have to create moments of stressful environments. So it’s a credit to the guys because we create a lot of — a lot of — stressful days. Sometimes mentally, sometimes physically, sometimes emotionally. But if you create stressful situations, you can start to see how you handle yourself under those stressful situations. And then you can study how you get better at it.”
Mazzulla on the sacrifices Celtics made to win a championship
There is no doubt it took the right mindset of all the players to follow their role and become the most complete team in the NBA led by the dynamic duo of Tatum and Jaylen Brown. However, they also have the likes of Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and others where the No. 1 goal for all of them was not statistics, but “winning.”
“They just made a decision that winning was the most important thing,” Mazzulla said. “Jayson and Jaylen playing defense. Derrick (White) and Jrue doing everything. Al, KP, who’s starting, who’s not starting, just none of that matters. And they just put winning at the forefront. And they put whatever went into winning at the forefront.”
“You see it right in front of your face, and you see a group of guys doing it, and it doesn’t get the appreciation and the recognition that it deserves,” Mazzulla continued. “When you go through all the different things about what makes a company and an organization successful, the players depicted that all the time, even when things got tough.”
Giving back to the city of Boston was important for Mazzulla and the team
With any team based in Boston, there were going to be criticism and expectations anyways, but it seems as if Mazzulla and the players embraced that pressure. The 35-year old head coach would even emphasize that one needs “all those things” as it goes “into making who you are as a person.”
“It’s Boston,” Mazzulla said via The Athletic. “Like, we wouldn’t want it any other way. I think the ownership and the responsibility to give back to the franchise, give back to the city, that’s just part of it. And so I think you need it. Like, you need that. You need criticism, you need praise, you need expectations. All those things go into making who you are as a person, making who you are as people, as an organization.
“So just having an understanding that they are never going to go away,” Mazzulla continued. “If someone tells you ‘Good job,’ that’s just as dangerous as someone telling you you suck. But you need both of them to get to where you want to get to, and there’s no place else I’d rather be.”
Tatum on how last year's disappointment set them up for greatness
As for Tatum, there have been multiple hurdles for him to jump through besides on the court as he had to overcome the outside noise, especially during the NBA Finals. It was amplified when Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said that Brown was Boston's best player and eventually when he won Finals MVP, but it didn't bother Tatum as he knew winning a championship was the most important goal. Instead, he focuses more on the team and his previous disappointments as it built them to achieve greatness.
“We were always good and talented,” Tatum said. “The game needed to slow down. We got to the conference finals two out of our first three years, and it just seemed like we were all so much older than we actually are. Everybody was like, ‘Oh, they didn't win it. They can't play together. They should trade him.' And I was always like, ‘I just turned 26 and he's 27.' Nobody wanted to give us no time.”
“Last year was a great learning experience. For one, to not take things for granted. You’re never promised to make it back to the finals,” Tatum continued. “I think each and every person this year has come into the season with a different mindset. I think it has truly shown that we don’t take things for granted, and we approach every single day the same.”
In any sense, the Celtics have won their first championship since 2008 and now have 18 total titles which puts them at No. 1 as they were tied with the Los Angeles Lakers before. They look to have another exceptional season as they had a dominant 64-18 record to put them No. 1 in the East.
Follow Us
Subscribe