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The Celtics will officially kick off their quest to defend their title when the NBA season gets underway this week, and head coach Joe Mazzulla doesn’t sound too stressed based on his hilariously on-brand response to a question about the pressures that come with being the reigning champions.
Joe Mazzulla didn’t waste any time proving he has what it takes to be the head coach of an NBA team when the Boston Celtics tapped him to replace Ime Udoka in the wake of the wild scandal that led to the latter’s resignation, as the team posted a 57-25 record in the regular season during his inaugural campaign and ended up one win shy of punching its ticket to the Finals.
It was a hard act to follow, but Mazzulla somehow managed to outdo himself last year after the Celtics secured the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a dominant 64-18 regular season showing before cruising through the playoffs and bringing the Larry O’Brien trophy back to Boston for the first time since 2008 after dispatching the Mavericks in five games.
The 36-year-old Mazulla has already cemented himself as one of the league’s best coaches in just a couple of years, and he’s also earned a reputation as one of its more entertaining figures thanks to the Jim Harbaugh levels of quirkiness; we’re talking about a no-nonsense guy who once espoused the joys of tearing his meniscus and ended up on the receiving end of an intervention because he watched too much game tape.
Now, we can add another entry to the canon courtesy of the answer Mazzulla shared on Monday when he was asked if he was feeling any pressure to repeat as champions as the Celtics prepare to open up their season against the Knicks on Tuesday night.
According to The Boston Herald, the skipper got very existential while downplaying any stress he might be facing, saying:
“No pressure. We’re all going to be dead soon, and it really doesn’t matter anymore. So, zero pressure.
You’re either going to win or you’re not. 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…
I just don’t look at it as pressure… We don’t have a pressure. If we lose, we’re not losing our life. We’re not surgeons. We’re not in the military. We coach basketball for a living.”
Wise words from a wise man.