The Sixers Might Be In Some Trouble After Joe Mazzulla Showed He's Able To Call Out All Their Plays Before They Even Happen

Winslow Townson. Getty Images.

During yesterday's games, the NBA announced the finalists for all of their awards, and it wasn't at all surprising to seee Joe Mazzulla make his way into the final 3 for Coach Of The Year

While JB Bickerstaff and Mitch Johnson had impressive seasons and are more than worthy of being in the conversation for this award, they're mostly just playing for second place in my opinion. I would actually argue this is an award Mazzulla should have already won at some point in his first 4 years running the Celtics (no team has more regular season wins or playoff wins since he took over) and what he was able to accomplish this season was one of the most masterful coaching performances we've ever seen. 

Game 1 against the Sixers was a great example of just what a basketball savant this man is. It's not only the fact that his offensive and defensive systems are among the best in the league. It's not only how he's able to develop and get the most out of every single player on the roster, it's not only how every player on the team will gladly kill for Joe Mazzulla. He's also doing shit like this

What you see there is Joe Mazzulla quickly reading the floor and diagnosing what the Sixers are about to do well before the whistle blows and the actions starts. He calculated how they were setting up and immediately nailed the play. What happens? Jaylen draws the offensive foul and the possession is killed. Who did that? Joe Mazzulla. 

This showed us a few things. For starters, nobody is more prepared than Joe Mazzulla. This is why all of his funny quirks and interviews are to be taken seriously. None of it is an act. This is a true basketball psycho who also happens to be a basketball genius. All the talk about being prepared and dedicating his life to winning, you see it right there in that clip. He watches the film, he learns his opponents' moves, and then he's able to apply that learning to live adjustments that may not seem like a big deal in the moment, but when you add up all those little moments, it turns into a 32 point ass kicking. Everything is connected, and it starts with Joe. 

It also tells us that maybe Nick Nurse's offense is a tad predictable. That's not always a great sign for a playoff series where things come down to learning and stopping your opponents' tendencies. If that's already happening in Game 1, that might not be the best sigh for the Sixers moving forward in this series. 

When I see something like this, it points to the growth we've seen from Mazzulla since Year 1. The basketball knowledge and the motivation were always there. It's how the Celts won 57 games that season after he was thrown to the fire with zero advanced preparation. But one thing that he struggled with early was stuff like this. Adjusting in-game, getting a feel for how the game was going and how to counter what was happening in real time. With each season he's gotten better and better at that stuff, and we're now at the point where it feels like second nature. How many times did we see Joe press the right button when it came to his rotation? Guys that weren't really playing all of a sudden got the nod and were successful? Calling out plays before they happen to earn yourself an extra possession? These are all examples of growth by a guy who already owns the best winning percentage in NBA coaching history.

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And to the haters and losers of which there are many who will say stuff like this is common, and every coach does it. I call bullshit. Nick Nurse wasn't doing this shit yesterday. He didn't know what the hell the Celts were going to do, which is why they were so effective. He's not dialed in like Mazzulla. He's not willing to dedicate every second of his life to winning like Mazzulla.

While this detail of coaching is important, what makes Joe also so elite is how he's developed and nurtured the Tatum/Brown duo. Between calling out the Sixers' plays and then also finding ways to unleash his best players in positions of strength

We're quickly reaching a reality where Joe Mazzulla isn't just one of the best Celtics coaches of my lifetime; he's on pace to become one of the greatest Celtics coaches in their entire franchise history. I know that's saying a lot, but that's also where we're headed if things continue on this path.

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And to think Brad Stevens found him from the 2nd row behind the bench as an assistant? Unbelievable.