NBA: Joe Mazzulla will return as Celtics coach

FILE–Head coach Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics. Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images/AFP

Joe Mazzulla will return as head coach of the Boston Celtics despite losing a winner-take-all NBA playoff showdown with Miami, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said Thursday.

The Celtics could have become the first team in NBA history to win a playoff series after dropping the first three games but were routed 103-84 by the Heat on Monday in the seventh game of the Eastern Conference finals.

Mazzulla’s fate was in doubt after woeful performances in key games, but Stevens made it clear the Celtics, who promoted assistant Mazzulla after the firing of Ime Udoka as coach last September and removed his interim tag in February, is the man for the job.

“I thought he did a really good job with this group,” Stevens said. “He’s a terrific leader. He’ll only get better at anything that he can learn from this year because he’s constantly trying to learn and he’s accountable. Those leadership qualities are hard to find.

“When you can show all those through the expectations and the microscope that he was under, that’s hard to do.”

Mazzulla, a 34-year-old American, guided the Celtics to a 57-25 campaign, one game behind Milwaukee for the best record in the NBA this season.

The Celtics, who lost last year’s NBA Finals to Golden State, ousted Atlanta in the first round of the playoffs and outlasted Philadelphia in seven games in the second round then rallied from 3-0 down in the conference final only to fall at home in the decider.

“Everybody is going to overreact to the best players and coaches after the game. That’s always the way it is. We have to be able to judge things on the whole,” Stevens said.

“Was he perfect? Would he like to have some moments back? Every coach would. Our players and our staff believe in him and we’ve got to do our best to support him going forward.”

FILE–Head coach Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics. Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images/AFP

Rather than switch to a fourth coach in four seasons, the Celtics will stand by Mazzulla and company, Stevens saying they aren’t far from their goal of an NBA title for the first time since 2008.

“The goal was not attained,” Stevens said, “So, I look at it as, how can we be a little bit better? There’s a lot there. It’s not far.

“It’s really hard to be in the mix, so we’ve just got to figure out how to be a little bit better. But we’ve got a lot of foundational things that are good.”

Those include top scoring threats Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown plus inside standout Robert Williams.

“He’s a huge part of our opportunity to be great,” Stevens said. “Rob does give us a different dynamic with his ability to play way above the rim on both ends of the floor.”

The Celtics reached the conference finals for the fifth time in seven seasons but only last year did they advance to the NBA Finals.

Stevens says everyone in the organization will search during the off-season for ways to make the small improvements he says are needed to make the Celtics a champion once again.

“I have no doubt within the character of our group that they’ll do that,” Stevens said. “That’s what these guys have always been about.”

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