The Boston Celtics never thought they'd need a brand new head coach following a deep run to the NBA Finals, yet a major scandal led them to hire first-year coach Joe Mazzulla. While little was known about the former Celtics assistant, Mazzulla guided Boston through tough times and earned an extension in the process.

The first-year head coach led Boston to an impressive 57-25 record and helped them capture the No. 2 seed in a loaded Eastern Conference. His inaugural regular season was filled with more ups than downs, but that doesn't mean Mazzulla didn't have coaching lessons to learn. Via Jay King:

Earlier in the 2022-23 campaign, Mazzulla faced some backlash for not utilizing timeouts enough. The 34-year-old instead favored letting the C's figure out things themselves rather than bailing them out with multiple timeouts.

After a December win against the Los Angeles Lakers that nearly saw Boston squander a huge lead, Joe Mazzulla defended his aversion to timeouts:

“I don't think there's actual real evidence that [calling timeouts during runs] works,” he said, per NBC Sports Boston. “I think it's knowing your team. I think it's us as a team being on the same page. I think it's building an awareness and a mindset to how the game is going and when it does get away from us, what are the things that we can do to get back? Because I think a lot of times when a team is on a run, it's mostly because of self-infliction.”

This was Mazzulla's philosophy just a few months ago, but now it seems he's warmed up to the idea of stopping the bleeding with a quick stoppage. However, like fellow New England coach Bill Belichick, Mazzulla also likes messing around with the media. And after he said “call timeouts” he even let out a little chuckle, so there's a chance that he'll still avoid timeouts when he can in the postseason.

No matter which strategy Mazzulla employs, no one can deny the impressive success he had in his first year as a head coach.

But Boston's ultimate goal has not been reached yet, as the C's are still on the hunt for an 18th NBA championship. The Green Team's quest for another title will start on Saturday, April 15, when they face either the Atlanta Hawks or the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs.