"Anyone Can Get Guillotined At Any Time" - Joe Mazzulla Explaining His House Rules Is Yet Another Reason Why He's The Greatest To Ever Do It
Thearon W. Henderson. Getty Images.There are many reasons to love Joe Mazzulla. For starters, he's the best coach in the NBA. Sorry if that offends, but it's the truth. No coach has more regular or postseason wins in the NBA than Joe Mazzulla since he took over for Ime Udoka back in 2022-23. He's never had an offense that finished lower than 2nd in the NBA at any point in his career. He has the highest winning percentage of any coach in history to have coached at least 200 games. He secured Banner 18. We all just saw what he was able to accomplish this season, which, in my unbiased (lol) opinion, was one of the more impressive coaching performances a Celtics coach has ever had. The way he has changed the culture and set the standard of excellence is a huge reason why the Celts are where they are.
But outside of the basketball stuff, he's also a quote machine and one of the best interviews you can have. It doesn't matter where it is or what the topics are about, Joe Mazzulla brings the goods whenever he's put in front of a mic/camera. It could be a postgame presser, it could be a radio show, it could be a Celts content video, or in this case, his annual appearance on Pardon My Take. I mean, it doesn't get better than this
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While there are some coaches out there (cough, cough JJ Redick) who try to pull off this same approach, unfortunately, it just doesn't hit the same. They are Temu Joe Mazzulla. Often imitated but never duplicated. The beauty of Mazzulla is the fact that NONE of this is an act. This is as authentic as you're going to get, and that's what makes it so funny. He's completely serious about all this stuff, and while normally you'd roll your eyes at that, with Mazzulla it's the truth. Between that interview and a few days ago when Joe was talking about how he can't stand when people ring his doorbell, it all tracks
Can you imagine how insane you have to be to enter Joe Mazzulla's house with no warning? Especially when we now know that you could be put in a guillotine at any moment? That sounds like a death wish to me.
It really cannot be understated just how much Joe Mazzulla has changed the lives of Celtics fans everywhere. Not only do we have a must watch/listen to coach whenever he's in front of a mic, but he's genuinely doing things with this team that many of us went our entire lives without seeing
Do you know how insane it is that the "worst" season of your coaching career is 56 wins and a top 2 seed? Let's not pretend like that's "normal". And while there were plenty of skeptics when Mazzulla first took over, even his biggest haters have had to bend the knee. It's very rare you get a coach that is this good both on and off the floor, and to me, that's what sets Joe apart. He's someone you would love to hang out with off the floor, but then once it's go time and it's time to get serious about winning basketball games, nobody does it better. As someone who has lived through the Rick Pitino Celtics era, I certainly do not take that for granted.
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So do yourself a favor and give the whole episode a listen, it's great stuff.