What makes a good basketball coach? Certainly, a background in basketball expertise, combined with strong communication skills and emotional intelligence. Amidst all of this, however, one thing stands out more prominently than the others: leadership. The ability to know just how much the players need to be controlled, and when to know to give out praise to them. Having been a part of the NBA coaching world for over 7 years, Joe Mazzulla may not carry as much experience as several of his peers. Despite that, he knows when to coddle his players, and when not. If you’re looking for an example, then you need to look no further than his team’s recent game.
During Game 1 of the Boston Celtics’ first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic, Joe Mazzulla was captured looking on when Jayson Tatum sustained a hard fall. The incident occurred as 8:29 remained in the 4th quarter. Tatum drove to the basket and, while rising for a dunk attempt, collided with Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. and forward Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Tatum hit the floor hard and immediately grabbed at his right wrist.
As several people gathered around the player, Mazzulla was heard telling the Celtics trainer to not to go out to Tatum. Then, with a strong and authoritative voice that would have made Mickey from Rocky V proud, he shouted, “GET UP!”. No matter what pain Jayson Tatum was going through, Mazzulla wasn’t going to coddle him.
Joe telling the trainer not to go out to Tatum and then immediately screaming “GET UP” is why he’s the perfect man for this job pic.twitter.com/GKi9hALfV4
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) April 21, 2025
This incident occurred before Mazzulla participated in the post-game presser. During the same time, he was asked about his thoughts on Jayson Tatum’s performance, and whether placing him to undertake rebounding efforts in the second half was the right call.
Mazzulla replied, “Yeah, I mean obviously, probably didn’t play the efficient offensive game that he liked, but I thought his poise, you couldn’t tell that. That never got in the way of his defense and his physicality and his rebounding, that’s the most important thing. I mean he’s he’s going to score, he’s going to put us in position to be successful. But uh, you know, you got to answer the call defensively, physicality-wise. I thought he did that, especially in the rebounding in the second half.”
This is a developing story.
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