No Jayson Tatum, no problem: this has been the mantra for the Boston Celtics' all season. Expected to drop off without the services of their best player, the Celtics have not just survived, but thrived as well. They are now 18-11 on the season after dispatching of another injury-ravaged team in the Indiana Pacers on Monday night, 103-95.
The Celtics' developmental staff deserves plenty of credit for helping turn inexperienced players such as Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez, and Josh Minott into key contributors. But head coach Joe Mazzulla also deserves a ton of praise for putting his players in optimal positions to succeed.
Just to further hammer home how incredible of a coach Mazzulla is, the Celtics' latest victory was his 200th in his head coaching career. He became the third-fastest head coach in NBA history to do so, as per Sean Grande, the voice for Celtics Radio.
It helps that Mazzulla did inherit a roster that made it to the NBA Finals the previous year and only vacated their head coaching position due to an off-court scandal. But Mazzulla, who's just 37 years of age, has incorporated his own style of tenacious coaching on both ends of the floor — and Boston has won 57, 64, and 61 games, respectively, in his first three seasons at the helm, including an NBA title in 2024.
He's going to be a force to be reckoned with on the sidelines for the next few decades at the very least.
The Jaylen Brown-led Celtics are doing alright
Jaylen Brown has taken on a larger role for the Celtics in every facet of the game, and Boston has been very good with him seizing the reins. He put up 31 points and nine rebounds in their win over the Pacers, and he's been remarkably consistent all season long — recording 29.4 points per game on 50/36/78 shooting splits.
The Celtics star has taken the leap, and it will be interesting how he'll fare when Tatum returns.
