Mazzulla, Joe (1988- )

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    Miami Heat Beat Boston Celtics in Game 7 to Advance to NBA Finals

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    The Heat are just the second eighth seed to reach the N.B.A. championship series. They beat Boston, the No. 2 seed, in the Eastern Conference finals.The Miami Heat stunned the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night, clinching a roller-coaster, hold-your-breath, best-of-seven series in Game 7, 103-84, to extend their remarkable postseason run.“I had so much belief in myself and this group of guys,” said Heat forward Jimmy Butler, who was named the most valuable player of the series. He scored 28 points in Game 7.The Heat, whose resurgence as the East’s No. 8 seed has seemingly surprised everyone but them, will face the Denver Nuggets in the N.B.A. finals beginning Thursday. The Nuggets secured their first trip to the championship round by completing a sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals a week ago. The Heat are just the second eighth seed, after the 1998-99 Knicks, to reach the N.B.A. finals under the current playoff format.Not that it was easy. “Sometimes you have to suffer for the things you really want,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said during the postgame trophy presentation.After the Heat won the first three games of the series, the Celtics regained their rhythm and won the next three to force a seventh and deciding game at home. Boston was bidding to become the first team to win an N.B.A. playoff series after trailing, 3-0. But Miami avoided becoming a historical footnote/punchline by dipping into its bottomless well of perseverance.Even when the Heat were scuffling in the regular season, losing nearly as often as they won, Spoelstra stuck with his approach.Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler struggled in the second half of the series but came through in Game 7.Maddie Meyer/Getty ImagesSpoelstra said he sensed that the Heat were capable of improving if they continued to focus on their daily work. There was nothing especially sexy about it — meeting after frustrating losses, watching film, practicing hard.“Those are gratifying experiences,” Spoelstra said earlier in the series, “particularly when you’re losing games and you’re getting criticized for it. But you’re still able to just come together and try to get it right.”The Heat went about six months without getting it right. But over the past six weeks, they have unlocked all their promise and potential to clinch another appearance in the N.B.A. finals. It is the franchise’s seventh in its 35 seasons and second in the past four years.“The ups and downs prepared us for these moments,” Bam Adebayo, the Heat’s All-Star center, said during the series as the Heat went about their business of outlasting the Celtics.The Heat won the first two games of the series in Boston then routed the Celtics in Miami in Game 3. Spoelstra said “a lot of pent-up stuff” had been fueling his team but declined to elaborate.His players were more forthcoming: They recalled being eliminated by the Celtics in the conference finals last season, an especially disappointing exit since the Heat were the East’s top seed and the series went seven games.The Heat nearly blew it this time around. Before Game 7, the Celtics were entertaining dreams of replicating the Boston Red Sox’s dramatic comeback in the 2004 American League Championship Series, when they made baseball history by coming back from a 3-0 series deficit to eliminate the Yankees. The Red Sox then swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series to win their first championship since 1918.But Miami was too determined and too tough, finding beauty in the struggle. Butler, the team’s gifted two-way forward, imposed his will early in the series, while Adebayo was a defensive menace. But their supporting cast made the difference.Caleb Martin, a small forward who moved into the starting lineup for Games 6 and 7, was the Heat’s most consistent player throughout the series. He had 26 points in Game 7 and made of 11 of his 16 shots, including four 3-pointers. Gabe Vincent, the team’s starting point guard, played the final two games with a sprained ankle. And Duncan Robinson came off the bench to make timely 3-pointers.On Monday, before a hostile crowd that was at a fever pitch during player introductions, the Heat seemed intent on drowning out the noise by relying on their defense. The Celtics missed all 10 of their 3-point attempts in the first quarter; in the second quarter, the Heat led by as many as 17 points.Boston had cut into Miami’s lead when Martin went to work again, closing the third quarter with a turnaround baseline jumper. He opened the fourth quarter with his fourth 3-pointer of the game, and the Heat’s lead was back to 13.Adebayo had been asked earlier in the series about the key to the team’s success.“Believing,” he said. “Believing in one another. Believing that we can get a win. Believing that we can beat the No. 1 team in the league. You know, belief is real, and we’ve got a will to win.”The Heat did indeed beat the No. 1 team, upsetting the Milwaukee Bucks, who had the league’s best regular-season record, in the first round of the playoffs. They beat the fifth-seeded Knicks in six games in the second round to set up their series with Boston.The Celtics figured to make another deep playoff run after losing to the Golden State Warriors in the N.B.A. finals last season. But obstacles — both predictable and unforeseen — hindered them before they even convened for the preseason.Atop the list was the sudden absence of Ime Udoka, who, as the Celtics’ first-year head coach last season, left his defense-minded imprint on the team. But in September, less than a week before training camp, the Celtics suspended him for the season for “violations of team policies.” Two people briefed on the matter, who were not authorized to speak about it publicly, said Udoka had a relationship with a female subordinate.Boston’s Jaylen Brown struggled in Game 2, hitting just one 3-pointer in seven attempts.Adam Glanzman/Getty ImagesBoston’s Jayson Tatum scored just 14 points in a blowout loss to Miami in Game 3.Wilfredo Lee/Associated PressThe entire situation cast an unwelcome shadow on the Celtics as they sought to focus on the season ahead. “It’s been hell,” Marcus Smart, the team’s starting point guard and last season’s defensive player of the year, said at the time.Instead of going outside the organization to hire an experienced coach as Udoka’s replacement, the team prioritized continuity by temporarily promoting Joe Mazzulla, who had been an assistant on Udoka’s staff.Mazzulla, 34, whose only previous head coaching experience was at Fairmont State, a Division II program in West Virginia, had suddenly been placed in charge of an N.B.A. team with championship expectations. It was a gamble that appeared to be paying off by the All-Star break, when Boston had the league’s best record. The Celtics named Mazzulla as their permanent head coach in February and officially severed ties with Udoka, whom the Houston Rockets hired as head coach last month.But Boston slumped over the final weeks of the regular season, slipping to the No. 2 seed in the East behind Milwaukee, and needed six games to eliminate the Atlanta Hawks in the first round. (The series went so unexpectedly long that Janet Jackson had to postpone a concert in Atlanta. Boston’s Jayson Tatum publicly apologized to her.)The pressure only mounted on Mazzulla — and on the team’s two stars, Tatum and Jaylen Brown — during the Celtics’ conference semifinal matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers. Tatum and Brown were inconsistent as the series stretched to seven games. Mazzulla was scrutinized for some of his lineup choices and for his apparent aversion to calling timeouts in critical situations.“Joe’s learning, just like all of us,” Smart said during the series. “I know he’s been killed a lot, rightfully so.”But after Tatum scored 51 points in a series-clinching tour de force against the 76ers, the Celtics ran into the Heat, a savvy and experienced opponent with payback in mind.In the postseason, Miami’s Jimmy Butler has become known for morphing into “Playoff Jimmy” — a better version of himself.Adam Glanzman/Getty ImagesThe Heat traveled a long, hard road merely to reach the conference finals. They had to defeat the Chicago Bulls in a play-in game to slip into the postseason. They proceeded to lose two rotation players, Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo, to injuries in their first-round series with the Bucks.But the Heat were not about to let up against the Celtics — not after a season of growth under Spoelstra, not with Butler filling his more unsung teammates with confidence, and not against an opponent that had buried Miami’s championship dream a year ago.“We go out there and we hoop and we play basketball the right way,” Butler said, “knowing that we’ve always got a chance.” More

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      Boston Celtics Finally Look Like They Want to Beat the Miami Heat

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      Boston hadn’t looked like the team that went to the N.B.A. finals last season — or like a team that wanted to get there this year.Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart is difficult to miss. His jump shot can be an amusement-park ride. He will try the occasional alley-oop pass from midcourt. He spoke earlier this month about the apparent brutality of a playoff game as a “true dogfight — scratching and clawing, biting, blood, everything.” He dyes his hair green.It is all part of the colorful package, and, on Thursday night, Smart showcased his role as a defense-minded agent of chaos on the opening possession of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat.Smart was defending Jimmy Butler away from the ball, near the top of the perimeter, when Bam Adebayo of the Heat drove to the basket. Smart reached at the ball, stripped it free and dove to collect it near the foul line before shoveling it ahead to Jayson Tatum for a fast-break layup and the game’s first points.One play does not define anything, of course, especially in a postseason series. But that play — a clean steal before the Heat could even take a shot — seemed to hint at everything that was to come during the Celtics’ 110-97 victory, which extended their season. The Heat lead the series, 3-2. Game 6 is Saturday in Miami.The Celtics, the No. 2 seed in the East, forced 16 turnovers in Game 5. They threw a full-court press at the Heat coming out of timeouts. They led by as many as 24 points. By the fourth quarter, Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra was pacing in front of the visiting bench with his hands on his hips, and Butler, who finished with just 14 points against a host of defenders, looked weary.Miami’s Jimmy Butler struggled against the Celtics defense in Game 5, scoring just 14 points.Maddie Meyer/Getty Images“I wanted to get us going,” said Smart, who checked out of the game to an ovation after scoring 23 points. “I wanted to come in and give my team some energy, especially going against a team like Miami.”He added: “We did the knocking around tonight.”The pressure is squarely on the Heat before Game 6. They would certainly welcome the return of Gabe Vincent, their starting point guard, who missed Game 5 with a sprained ankle. But in case anyone thinks they are reeling, Butler offered a Namath-esque guarantee at his postgame news conference.“We can and we will win this series,” he said. “We’ll just have to close it out at home.”Not so long ago, the Heat had all the momentum. In fact, early in the third quarter of Game 4 on Tuesday, they seemed to be closing in on a four-game series sweep. There was one possession in that game when three offensive rebounds led to a 3-pointer by Max Strus, pushing Miami’s lead to 9 points in front of a home crowd that was primed to celebrate a trip to the N.B.A. finals.The Celtics could have crumbled like a sand castle into Biscayne Bay. But a funny thing happened: They promptly went on an 18-0 run. No longer was the Heat’s zone defense such a riddle. No longer were the Celtics’ 3-point shots rimming in and out. And no longer did the outcome of the series appear to be a foregone conclusion after the Celtics’ 116-99 victory, which sent it back to Boston.Several Celtics mentioned the importance of a team meeting between Games 3 and 4, which happened at a time when nearly everyone outside their locker room figured their season was toast. Coach Joe Mazzulla was fielding questions about whether he had lost his team. Tatum and Jaylen Brown were being scrutinized for their inconsistent play. Broadcasters were cracking jokes about imminent trips to Cancun.“I mean, Game 3, that was as low as you can be,” Tatum said. “The good part about being that low is that you only can play better. It’s only up from there.”After Thursday’s win, Mazzulla said one of his assistants had provided valuable perspective.“The seasons are, like, nine months long, and we just had a bad week,” Mazzulla said. “Sometimes you have a bad week at work. We obviously didn’t pick the best time to have a bad week, but we did, and we’re sticking together and fighting like hell to keep it alive, and the guys are really coming together.”The Celtics are making a habit of digging holes — they trailed the Philadelphia 76ers, three games to two, in their conference semifinal series — before MacGyvering their way out. Smart acknowledged that the Celtics may have been too lax in how they had approached their series with the eighth-seeded Heat.“They snuck up on us and got us,” said Smart, who was asked to elaborate. “That’s the thing about sneaking up on somebody: They’re not supposed to know you’re coming. So that’s what happened. We didn’t know. We didn’t see it, and they got us. It wasn’t like we were trying to have that mind-set. It’s part of the game. It’s part of life. It’s part of the roller coaster of playing in the N.B.A.”Smart was 4 of 6 from 3-point range in Game 5.Maddie Meyer/Getty ImagesNow, the Celtics are halfway toward snapping one of professional sports’ most curious and seemingly shatterproof streaks. No N.B.A. team has ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit. Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Lakers became the 150th team to have tried (briefly) and failed (miserably) when the Denver Nuggets swept them in the Western Conference finals.As for the Celtics, Smart pumped the brakes on looking beyond Game 6.“First of all, we have to worry about one — the next game, not two games,” he said.On Thursday, Smart was a kinetic force. He connected on back-to-back 3-pointers for an early 10-point lead. He started the first half with a steal and punctuated it with one, too, poking the ball away from the Heat’s Caleb Martin. He defended and scored, grimaced and scowled, finishing with five steals while shooting 7 of 12 from the field and 4 of 6 from 3-point range.“He’s just an emotional key for us,” Mazzulla said. “When he’s locked in and playing both sides of the ball at a different pace, it kind of gives us our identity and our life.” More

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      Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat Have the Boston Celtics on the Ropes

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      Butler has shaped the Miami Heat in his no-quit, self-assured image, which is bad news for a reeling Boston team that is one loss from elimination in the Eastern Conference finals.MIAMI — For much of Game 3 of the N.B.A.’s Eastern Conference finals on Sunday, Jimmy Butler did something he does not often do: He played a supporting role. He created off the dribble, zipped passes to his Heat teammates for open shots and pushed to score only when the opportunity made too much sense not to seize it.Butler could have easily tried to take over against the reeling Boston Celtics. But he has shaped the Heat in his no-quit, self-assured image, and empowered their cast of unsung players to lead. Then, shortly before halftime on Sunday, as if anyone needed to be reminded of his presence, Butler dribbled the ball upcourt and went straight at the Celtics’ Grant Williams, his latest nemesis, for a jumper off the glass.After drawing a foul on the shot for good measure, Butler fell to his back and stayed there for longer than was necessary — just so he could point at Williams and make it clear that he had made him look foolish, again.“In all the moments of truth,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said, “Jimmy is going to put his will on the game.”Another game, another clinic given by Miami, whose 128-102 victory on Sunday was an end-to-end drubbing. The Heat, who have a 3-0 series lead, will go for the sweep at home on Tuesday, driven by their increasingly credible championship dreams as an eighth seed.The Celtics looked lost in Game 3 as they fell behind the Heat by as many as 33 points.Megan Briggs/Getty ImagesThe Celtics’ Jaylen Brown called the Game 3 loss “embarrassing.” Boston Coach Joe Mazzulla took the blame. “I just didn’t have them ready to play,” he said.All things considered, it was a muted performance by Butler, who finished with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. But for the first time in the series, he faced traps. Both he and Bam Adebayo found teammates who were willing to help. Gabe Vincent scored 29 points, and Duncan Robinson finished with 22.“Jimmy and Bam are fueling that,” Spoelstra said. “They are just infusing those guys with confidence.”It would be easy to describe Butler as a showman, as someone who turns the court into a stage. He is not an impassive person. He emotes. He interacts with opposing players. He sings to himself. And he seems to delight in those moments (plural) when a crowded arena awaits his next act.Make no mistake: There is a theatrical element to his approach, especially in the playoffs. It was on full display in Game 2 on Friday, after Williams connected on a 3-pointer to build on Boston’s narrow lead midway through the fourth quarter. Williams began jawing with Butler on his way back up the court. On the ensuing possession, Butler scored on Williams and drew a foul. Afterward, Butler and Williams knocked foreheads as they continued their — how to put this delicately? — conversation.“l like that,” Butler said. “I’m all for that. It makes me key in a lot more. It pushes that will that I have to win a lot more. It makes me smile. When people talk to me, I’m like, OK, I know I’m a decent player if you want to talk to me out of everybody that you can talk to.”Butler and Boston’s Grant Williams had a fiery exchange during Game 2 on Friday. Adam Glanzman/Getty ImagesFor Williams, talking to Butler was a miscalculation. The Heat closed that game with a 24-9 run. After the win, Butler strode to his news conference crooning along to “Somebody’s Problem,” a song by the country artist Morgan Wallen, which Butler was playing on his iPhone.“It’s a hit in the locker room right now,” said Butler, who described himself as the team D.J. “So I get to pick and choose what we listen to.”The thing about Butler, though, is that all his extracurriculars — and all the attention that he draws to himself, whether intentional or not — are a means to an end. They motivate him, push him to perform. He is not brash for the sake of being brash. He is brash because being brash helps him win.“He loves to win,” said Mike Marquis, who was his coach at Tyler Junior College, a two-year school about 100 miles southeast of Dallas. “Some people hate to lose. He absolutely loves to win. I think sometimes there’s a negative connotation with hating to lose, with bad sportsmanship and all that. But when I coached him, he didn’t have any of that — he just loved to win.”Butler, who had a difficult childhood, was not highly recruited coming out of Tomball High School in Texas. He had a scholarship offer from Centenary, a small college in Louisiana that has since transitioned to Division III, and a partial offer from Quinnipiac. But Tyler, Butler said, was where he felt wanted.Joe Fulce, a teammate of his at Tyler and later at Marquette, recalled that Butler had an uncanny ability to “curate his own world” whenever he played basketball. Outside the gym, there were problems and challenges. Inside the gym, the many distractions of his daily life somehow ceased to exist.“That’s hard as hell to do,” Fulce said. “It’s almost like he was a magician.”Butler amped up the crowd during Game 3.Megan Briggs/Getty ImagesMarquis caught another glimpse of that single-minded focus when the N.B.A. concluded its 2019-20 season inside a spectator-free bubble at Walt Disney World because of the coronavirus pandemic. While other players were going stir crazy, Butler thrived in that sort of insulated environment, hauling the fifth-seeded Heat to the N.B.A. finals before they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.Today, Butler is one of the league’s most recognizable players and a global pitchman for a low-calorie beer. But he still finds a way to close himself off from the world around him whenever he plays basketball, and he is not all that dissimilar to many of his teammates who were overlooked until they found success in Miami. The Heat have nine undrafted players on their roster, including Vincent and Robinson.Butler went to junior college. He was the final pick of the first round of the 2011 N.B.A. draft. Even this season, he was not selected as an All-Star (which, in hindsight, was probably an oversight). The veteran guard Kyle Lowry has said Butler is one of the most unselfish stars he has played with.“He is us, and we are him,” Spoelstra told reporters earlier in the postseason, as a way of explaining the synergy between Butler and the team around him. “Sometimes, the psychotic meets the psychotic.”Together, they are one win from the N.B.A. finals. More

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      Celtics’ Jayson Tatum Overcomes Own Poor Play to Force Game 7

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      Tatum said after Game 6 that he is “one of the best basketball players in the world.” But for the first three quarters against the 76ers, he sure didn’t look like it.PHILADELPHIA — At the end of one of the stranger games of his career, Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics pounded the ball against the court as the final seconds elapsed. The sound of those hard dribbles — each a percussive thud — seemed to fill Wells Fargo Center as thousands of 76ers fans tried to make sense of what had just happened in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.How was any of it possible? How had the 76ers blown an opportunity to secure their first trip to the conference finals since 2001? How had the Celtics seized on such a simple change — sliding Robert Williams into their starting lineup — to boost their defense? And how had Tatum, after having spent most of his evening chucking up wayward jump shots, ultimately preserved his team’s season?“For 43 minutes, I had to hear them tell me how bad I was,” Tatum said of the fans. “So it kind of felt good to see everybody getting out of their seats, leaving early.”A strange series full of strange games will go the distance — because why not? — after the Celtics put the clamps on the 76ers in a 95-86 victory on Thursday, forcing a Game 7 on Sunday in Boston.Both teams are built to win now. These are not young, overachieving franchises. The 76ers are desperate to fulfill the long-awaited promise of their team-building blueprint known as the Process, with Joel Embiid, who recently collected his first N.B.A. Most Valuable Player Award, operating as their focal point. The Celtics, meanwhile, have been using the slogan “unfinished business,” a nod to how close they came to winning it all last season when they lost to the Golden State Warriors in the N.B.A. finals.An early exit for either the 76ers or the Celtics — and getting bounced from the playoffs in the conference semifinals would qualify — could lead to a summer of change. A win, though, would be seismic.“Honestly, I wouldn’t want to go to Game 7 in Boston with any other group,” 76ers Coach Doc Rivers said. “I know we’re going to rally. We’ve rallied all year long on the road.”On Thursday, Tatum rallied from his own struggles. He missed 13 of his first 14 field-goal attempts, a stretch of futility that extended into the fourth quarter. His teammates, he said, continued to feed him positive reinforcement. Keep rebounding. Keep defending. Keep passing. Keep shooting.Joe Mazzulla, the Celtics’ first-year coach, went one step further.“I love you,” Mazzulla recalled telling him. “That’s a pretty powerful statement.”Tatum came alive in the fourth quarter of Game 6, hitting four 3-pointers.Matt Slocum/Associated PressTatum’s first 3-pointer of the game gave the Celtics an 84-83 lead. He sank another one 39 seconds later. He made four 3-pointers in the game’s final 4:14, turning the arena into a mausoleum. He finished with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.“We rely on him,” the Celtics’ Malcolm Brogdon said. “He’s our guy. And he’s proven that he’s reliable in those moments. I don’t think there’s any doubt in anybody’s minds. It doesn’t matter how many shots he missed in the first three quarters. He’s going to finish the game for us.”Tatum, a first-team all-N.B.A. selection for the second straight season, has no shortage of confidence. In a walk-off interview with ESPN after Thursday’s game, he referred to himself as “humbly, one of the best basketball players in the world.” It was quite a statement after he shot 5 of 21 from the field.“I think that shows character that you call tell yourself that when you’ve only hit one shot,” he said later, “and things aren’t going your way, and you’ve got to be the same person with the same morals, the same character whether you’re up or down. And I kept telling myself that. I believe in myself.”Accordingly, Tatum gave Mazzulla a reprieve — for at least a couple of days. Mazzulla, who was an assistant under Ime Udoka last season, took over as the team’s interim coach a few days before the start of training camp when the Celtics suspended Udoka for unspecified “violations of team policies.” The Celtics removed Mazzulla’s interim tag in February and signed him to a contract extension.But the pressure on Mazzulla, 34, has only mounted in the playoffs — and during this series, in particular. There was Game 1, which the Celtics lost even though Embiid was sidelined with a sprained knee. There was Game 4, which the Celtics lost in overtime after they forced up a poor shot in the closing seconds. (Mazzulla later apologized to his players for neglecting to use one of his remaining timeouts.) And there was Game 5, which the Celtics lost thanks to a listless display of basketball that had their home fans booing them.Joe Mazzulla has struggled to make adjustments during the playoffs in his first year as head coach of the Celtics.Tim Nwachukwu/Getty ImagesBefore Game 6, Mazzulla made a long-overdue change by starting Williams, a defense-minded center, in place of Derrick White — a move that Marcus Smart, the team’s starting point guard, endorsed. In addition to blocking two shots and affecting countless others, Williams had 10 points and 9 rebounds.“Joe’s learning, just like all of us,” said Smart, who finished with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. “I know he’s been killed a lot, rightfully so. He needed to make some adjustments, and he did that, and that’s all you can ask for — for him to just continue to be the best that he can be.”Tatum described how he and Mazzulla had leaned on each other throughout the season.“I know there’s a lot of questions and doubts,” Tatum said, “and I’ve told him a lot of times: ‘I’ve got you, I’ve got your back. We’re in this together.’” More

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      The Celtics Won’t Have Inexperience to Blame if They Don’t Win This Year

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      Boston has star players, a deep bench and recent N.B.A. finals experience. What the team won’t have, if it loses in the playoffs, will be excuses.Jayson Tatum made no guarantees for the second half of the Boston Celtics’ season but of one thing he was certain. “Have we gotten better from last year?” Tatum told reporters during the N.B.A.’s All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City. “Yeah, a lot better.”Tatum had every reason to be brimming with confidence. His stock has never been higher — as signified by the reveal of his own signature shoe this week. In the basketball world, this is an indication that Tatum has graduated from N.B.A. star to N.B.A. star. He would go on to win the Most Valuable Player Award in the charade known as the All-Star Game, a cherry on top of the already M.V.P.-caliber season he is having.He is also the best player on the best team in the N.B.A., with the weight of championship expectations on his shoulders and those of his fellow All-Star and teammate Jaylen Brown. This would be an enviable position for most teams. But the pressure is exponentially higher in a city home to a ravenous fan base and a franchise with long history of winning championships.When asked about the Celtics operating as an established power rather than an underdog, Tatum had already consulted the Pro Athlete Cliché Handbook.“No pressure,” Tatum said. “We feel like we’ve been, if not the best, one of the best teams all season. The goal has always been the same: win a championship. So, you know, just do the right things. Don’t skip any steps. Take it one day at a time.”For Boston’s remaining 23 regular-season games and a presumed deep playoff run, the scrutiny will be much higher than that placed on last year’s young, upstart team. The Celtics (42-17) have the burden of having lots of ways to fail and only one way to be considered a success.Joe Mazzulla became the Celtics’ permanent coach last week after having assumed the role on an interim basis.Charles Krupa/Associated Press“Our environment will change,” Celtics Coach Joe Mazzulla said in a news conference. “And so we have to make sure we don’t.”Last week, Mazzulla had the interim tag removed from his title. He had been thrust into the role right before training camp when last year’s coach, Ime Udoka, was suspended for unspecified violations of team policies. The suspension came as a shock since the Celtics were an ascendant franchise coming off a finals run in a league where continuity is at a premium. Almost as surprising was that Brad Stevens, the team’s president of basketball operations and Udoka’s predecessor, handed the keys to Mazzulla, who had been a Celtics assistant for three years but never an N.B.A. head coach.All Mazzulla had to do was lead the Celtics to a championship. No training wheels. No emotional victories. Just victories.His presence created an odd and unusual dynamic. For much of the season, Udoka was still technically slated to come back in 2023-24 regardless of how Mazzulla did. But Mazzulla got the Celtics off to a blistering 18-4 start, quieting questions about whether his lack of experience would hinder an elite team. Eventually, the Celtics rewarded Mazzulla with what might be considered gold in N.B.A. coaching: security.“The East is terrific. Obviously, the West is loaded up,” Stevens said on a conference call last week. “It’s going to be really hard to win.” He added that it would be hard to coach while “looking behind you and looking over your shoulder.”Mazzulla may not be looking over his shoulder anymore, but the Celtics should be because teams are gaining on them. Since the hot start, the team has looked merely above average at 23-13, rather than world beating. They’re now only a half-game ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks (41-17) for the N.B.A.’s best record and the East’s top seed. Mazzulla has been criticized for not calling timeouts at crucial junctures in games. Over the last 15 games, the Celtics have had a below average offense. During the 18-4 stretch to start the season, the Celtics had not just the best offense in the N.B.A., but one of the best offenses in league history. The good news for Boston is that its defense has steadily improved while its offense has declined.The Celtics should receive a boost after the All-Star break, in the great gift of health. The starting lineup that took the team deep in last year’s playoffs — Tatum, Brown, Marcus Smart, Al Horford and Robert Williams III — has played only 29 minutes together this season. That unit is expected to be at full strength for the last stretch of the season.But even with injuries, the team is deep enough to contend. Derrick White, the sixth-year guard, has been a revelation during his first full season in Boston. In eight February games stepping in for the injured Smart, White averaged 21.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game. Malcolm Brogdon, whom the Celtics acquired in an off-season trade with Indiana, has been a reliable contributor and one of the best 3-point shooters in the league. Brogdon and White would likely be starters on most N.B.A. teams. That the Celtics expect to use them as reserves is a luxury. In one of their last games before the All-Star break, the Celtics nearly knocked off the Bucks on the road despite missing almost all of their top players.Derrick White, right, filled in for his injured teammate Marcus Smart, showing the Celtics’ depth.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesThe talent is there for the Celtics to win the championship. They are loaded with playmakers, elite shooting and top-notch defenders who can play multiple positions. They can counter Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo with a steady rotation of mobile forwards, including Horford. Their division-rival Nets imploded at the deadline and traded away their remaining stars, sending Kyrie Irving to Dallas and Kevin Durant to Phoenix.But lots of teams enter the playoffs with talent, as Boston did last year. Now, the Celtics, as Brown noted, should be better prepared for a grueling playoff run after last year’s finals against Golden State, when the team made sloppy, uncharacteristic mistakes and lost the series in six games.“I think this year we got a little bit more experience,” Brown told reporters. “So I think that will carry over into the finals.”Anecdotal evidence suggests continuity and experience are crucial for N.B.A. teams to win championships, and that playoff failures are necessary steppingstones to immortality. Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls suffered through the Bad Boys Pistons teams before starting their reign. Ditto the Miami Heat, who lost deep in previous playoffs before winning their championships in 2006 and 2012. It’s extremely rare for young teams to win championships, though Magic Johnson was a crucial part of the Los Angeles Lakers championship run during his rookie season in 1980 and Tim Duncan led the San Antonio Spurs to a ring in 1999 in his second.Some teams never quite get there, even with experience and talent — like LeBron James’s Cleveland Cavaliers in the late 2000s. The jury is still out on the Phoenix Suns, who lost in the second round last year after coming within two games of winning the 2021 championship.This is the Celtics’ best chance to win a championship since 2008, their last title run. If they don’t raise the trophy this season, or at least make the finals, they won’t be able to say it’s because of a lack of talent or experience. It’ll be something intangible.Being in that place means the franchise must meet lofty ambitions. But it’s better than not having them at all. More

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      Boston Celtics Hire Joe Mazzulla, Cutting Ties With Ime Udoka

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      Mazzulla had been the interim head coach since September after Boston suspended Udoka for the season for violating team policies.The Boston Celtics named Joe Mazzulla as their permanent head coach on Thursday, and they have fired Ime Udoka, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.Udoka had been suspended since September for unspecified “violations of team policies.” According to two people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly, Udoka had a relationship with a female subordinate.Mazzulla, 34, who had been an assistant in Boston for the last three years, was named the interim coach in his stead. With him at the helm, the Celtics have not skipped a beat since going to the N.B.A. finals last season. They are entering the All-Star break this weekend with the league’s best record at 42-17.“As he has shown, Joe is a very talented coach and leader,” Brad Stevens, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations, said in a statement. “He has a unique ability to galvanize a room around a mission. We are thankful for the work he has done to help get us to this point, and excited that he has agreed to lead us into the future.”The Celtics said in a statement that they had agreed to a contract extension with Mazzulla, but they did not disclose the terms of the deal.Udoka had been a highly respected assistant for nearly a decade before the Celtics hired him in 2021. He led last year’s team to a 51-31 record and a surprise trip to the N.B.A. finals, where Boston lost to Golden State in six games.But just days before training camp began this season, the Celtics suspended Udoka with the vague explanation of team policy violations, leading to an avalanche of social media speculation about the team’s female staff members as rumors swirled.“I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization and my family for letting them down,” Udoka said in a statement after the suspension was announced.Mazzulla, a former college basketball player at West Virginia University, was handed the reins. The Celtics began the season 18-4 and have been among the best teams in the N.B.A. on both ends of the floor. More