Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla learns lessons, pushes right buttons in first playoff series

ATLANTA — Joe Mazzulla took the blame.

The Celtics’ epic Game 5 collapse had come down to poor offensive execution. They committed four turnovers in the final four minutes. Their pace slowed. They lacked a sense of urgency. Mazzulla, the first-year head coach, recognized his faults in those moments. Then, two nights later, he put those lessons into action as the Celtics thrived in crunch time to eliminate the Hawks.

“I thought last game, because of me and my play calling, we played slow,” Mazzulla said. “I thought this game, I kind of learned from that, and they were proactive.”

Mazzulla had a successful first regular season, especially given the circumstances that faced the Celtics and his situation as they entered training camp. But the playoffs presented a totally new challenge for him. He was excited for it, but also untested in that environment, engaging in a tug-of-war of adjustments over a series.

There were growing pains, as Game 5 showed. But Mazzulla pressed all the right buttons late on Thursday as the Celtics closed out the Hawks. They got back to their offensive pace and spacing, led by Marcus Smart. Defensively, they shut down the Hawks after they looked unstoppable for most of the night. He made the bold decision to insert Grant Williams into important fourth-quarter minutes, shifting defensive coverages to throw the Hawks off.

It paid off.

“We were just changing coverages, changing defenses, keeping them off rhythm as much as we could. I thought our guys did a great job at the end of locking in,” Mazzulla said. “They wanted to win, they kept the momentum, the energy, the edge of the game, and they executed.”

Smart said Thursday’s closeout victory was a “prime example” of Mazzulla’s strengths as a head coach as he made the adjustments required.

“Being able to adapt, that’s what it’s all about, especially in the playoffs and that’s what he did,” Smart said. “Game 5 wasn’t a good game for us. We came back out and adapted tonight and got the win.”

The Celtics have continued to keep their faith in Mazzulla throughout his first season. It’s been a collaborative effort, as Mazzulla said it would be when he took the job.

“It’s been great all season just managing personalities, managing games,” Jayson Tatum said. “The season is long. We’ve had great periods, we’ve had periods where we’ve slipped a little bit, and his faith in us, our faith in him … I said all the time this is like a relationship. We’re on the same page. As much as he’s helping us, we’re helping him because we’re all on the same team. I think he always finds ways to maintain his poise, especially being a coach or leader of a team, that’s important. When things are going great, stay the same. When things aren’t going great, you stay the same. He’s done a great job.”

C’s praise Williams’ maturity

After playing 18 minutes in the Celtics’ Game 3 victory, Grant Williams played one minute in garbage time of Game 4, and didn’t play at all in Game 5.

Such has been the roller-coaster ride for the fourth-year forward. But given a chance to play a big role in Game 6, Williams was once again up to the challenge. Somewhat surprisingly, he played 11 minutes in the second half, including seven in the fourth quarter as the C’s went on a late surge. Williams’ defense – he drew a charge, and contributed to several defensive stops – was significant as the Celtics pulled away.

“Grant was huge,” Al Horford said. “So professional throughout all the uncertainty and things like that. He did not make excuses. His number was called, he stepped up, made big shots and defensive plays. He was so key for us to close this game. We do not close this game if Grant didn’t step up and play the way that he did.”

As the Celtics prepare to face the 76ers, Williams will likely see a more consistent role in the second round because he has historically performed well defensively in matchups against Joel Embiid. But even if he doesn’t, Williams’ continued professionalism through uncertain playing time is not going unnoticed by his teammates.

“The professionalism from Grant, there’s a couple games in this series he got DNPs and then obviously there’s a couple games in this series where he got in 5-10 minutes, not the lot that he was used to and he just kept the course,” Smart said. “When he was in there, he did everything in his ability to help this team win and that’s all you can ask for. The opportunity might not be as much as somebody else, but when you do get your opportunity, take full advantage and he did that.”

Sorry Ms. Jackson

When the Celtics lost Game 5, they inconvenienced a legendary musician.

Janet Jackson was scheduled to perform Thursday night at State Farm Arena, but the show had to be postponed to Friday because Celtics-Hawks Game 6 needed to be played. If it’s any solace, Tatum issued an apology to Jackson following the Celtics’ victory.

“I want to send an apology to the legend Janet Jackson,” Tatum said in his walk-off interview on TNT. “We were supposed to close it out in Boston. She had to postpone her show. I hope she sees this. I apologize for that. But we got it done today.”

Second-round schedule

The Celtics’ second-round series against the Sixers will begin on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at TD Garden, with Game 2 set for Wednesday at 8 p.m. The series shifts to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Friday at 7:30 p.m., then Game 4 on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Games 5-7, if necessary, will be played on May 9 (Boston), May 11 (Philadelphia) and May 14 (Boston).

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/mM0IGzZ