(Los Angeles) Three days after the elimination in the Eastern Conference final of the NBA playoffs against the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics announced Thursday that their young coach Joe Mazzulla would remain in place for next season.
“I think he did a great job with this group,” franchise president Brad Stevens said. “He’s a real leader. He can only get better after everything he’s been through this year, because he’s constantly trying to learn and he’s responsible. These qualities are hard to find. »
Aged 34, Mazzulla remains on a heavy defeat, conceded at home in the decisive match N.7 (103-84) which shattered the dream of an unprecedented comeback since his team had returned to 3-3 in the series after being down 3-0. In 151 occasions now, no team has managed to win the best of seven games after having suffered such a deficit.
“Everyone will overreact to top players and coaches after a game like this. It’s always like that. But we must be able to judge things as a whole. Our players and our staff believe in him and we must do everything we can to support him,” Stevens argued.
This failure was likely to weaken the position of Mazzulla, who became the youngest head coach in the NBA when he took over the reins of Boston at the start of the season, replacing Ime Udoka, for whom he was assistant.
Udoka was first suspended for an inappropriate relationship with a franchise employee and then fired a few months later.
If Mazzulla could not bring the Massachusetts team to the final, a year after the failure against Golden State, the young coach finished his first regular season with a record of 57 wins and 25 losses, in second place in the standings. in the East behind the Milwaukee Bucks. And will not ultimately be far from a first final, at the head of the C’s.