The 2024-25 Boston Celtics are a rarity in the modern NBA: a reigning champion that has been able to keep its roster almost intact.
Thirteen of the 15 players on the Celtics team that won the Larry O’Brien Trophy returned this season, including Joe Mazzulli’s entire playoff rotation. It’s no surprise that both oddsmakers and NBA general managers view Boston as the clear favorite to win again – something no team has done since 2018.
Are the Celtics feeling the pressure of championship expectations? According to Mazzulli, absolutely not.
“Zero. No pressure,” Boston’s head coach said Monday. “Soon we’re all going to die and it doesn’t really matter anymore. So zero pressure. Either you win or you don’t. And when you win, you try to forget about it a week later, and when you lose , you try to forget about it a week later. It’s not pressure. It’s an opportunity here for the next few years, no matter how long we’ve been together – I’ve said this in the past – we have a chance to take the organization forward, to double down on the tradition and history of this. what this organization has.
“What else can you expect than someone who expects you to win all the time? I wouldn’t want anyone to expect me to lose all the time. It would be devastating. So we hope for victory. We have great character, great talent and we just have to work to maximize that potential and try to rely on the players to do that.
According to Mazzulli, there are two types of pressure: that which the team puts on itself and that which is caused by media hype. The former is important and certainly present on the Celtics team, whose players have been talking throughout training camp about their desire not to become a one-time champion. The latter? For Mazzulli, it’s just noise.
“I just don’t see it as pressure,” he explained. “A member of the Boston media or someone who expects me to win doesn’t have a gun. They won’t come after me if I don’t win. They’re just people saying words that mean nothing. They’re just words. You only say them because you have to say them. Then you are contractually obliged to write a 500-word article. They’re just words. You can’t do anything.
“So it’s just a made up word. We have no pressure. If we lose, we will not lose our lives. We are not surgeons. We are not in the army. We make a living coaching basketball. No one puts more pressure and “expectations” on ourselves than we do. We have a responsibility. … I ask guys all the time: Would you rather be expected to lose or expect you to win?
“If you came in here and said, ‘Man, I really expected you to lose this game,’ I’d be pissed. But if you come here and say, “You should have won that game,” then yes, that’s what we signed up for. So I think it’s just the perspective of how you look at it and what the truth is.”
The Celtics are expected to win most of the games they play this season, starting with Tuesday’s season opener against the revamped New York Knicks. They will certainly fall short of expectations on some nights, which will invariably lead to criticism the next day.
These words, Mazzulla argued, will only have power “if you let them.”
“If you let words take away your personal power, then yes,” he said. “That’s why I don’t let words take away my personal power. It’s just important. Words don’t have power – they only have power if you let them. That’s what I try to teach my kids, like: I don’t care (expletive) what anyone says to me. Have you let it affect you? He didn’t put his hands on you, he didn’t touch you, he didn’t do anything. He said something to you. So now you have a choice as to how you interpret this.
“So it’s not pressure. Nobody in this circle (press conference) can do anything to me that would impact my identity and who I am as a person and a coach. Either we win or we don’t, and in 40 years none of you will be invited to my funeral and that’s it. That’s all.”
Originally published: October 21, 2024 at 1:37 pm
