Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla drops truth bomb on ‘desperate’ teams after blowout loss to Knicks

The Boston Celtics have steamrolled the opposition for most of the 2023-24 season. Thus, seeing them play like a mortal basketball team is a jolt to the senses. On Thursday night, the Celtics lost their second game in a row for just the fourth time this season, suffering a 118-109 defeat to division rival New York Knicks that was not as close as the final score line would suggest.

The Knicks were simply more locked-in; they leaned into their bruising identity, outrebounding and outscoring the Celtics in the paint by 16. This spoke volumes to the way the two teams approached the game. Of course, the Celtics have nothing to play for in the regular season anymore; the last thing they want is to overwork their key guys and risk injury, thus explaining the drop-off in their play over the past two games.

Nonetheless, according to Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla believes that his team were also in a “tough spot” in their past two games (the other game came against the Milwaukee Bucks) as they faced “desperate” teams that are still jockeying for playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference.

At present, nothing is certain yet in the East playoff picture other than the Celtics having homecourt advantage throughout the postseason. The number-two seed is still up for grabs, especially amid Giannis Antetokounmpo’s injury, giving the Knicks some strong incentive to play their hearts out on Thursday.

It’s understandable that the Celtics would want to take it easier, as the main goal is to get through the rest of the regular season unscathed. But given the lofty standards they’ve set for themselves, seeing the way they played in their past two games is very disappointing, especially for a coach that’s looking to lead this storied franchise to its 18th championship.

Joe Mazzulla criticizes Celtics’ effort, but with a catch