Mazzulla says the Celtics purposefully allowed Porzingis to defend Dejounte Murray on switches bc it was good practice reps for 1-through-5 switching, of which the Celtics haven’t done much. Boston has positioned itself to be able to use games as practices for certain scenarios.

23 comments

1. i don’t mind experimenting now, I like the KP/JB action in OT instead of running it thru tatum

2. Celtics ISO for the win= omg kill me now

   Hawks ISO for the win = awful defense, why let him ISO on a great defender?

3. You still need 4 more wins, Joe

4. If they show the real game plan in almost non bearing regular season game, they will expose themselves to the other contenders. Still a bad L but good for learning experiences tho.

5. Only thing I would say is if we are experimenting with that we should be experimenting more with our late game situationals. We did a little tonight, but who knows maybe they don’t want to reveal the good stuff until it actually matters lol

6. I would think playing the way you want philosophically in these situations would be more valuable. Especially when you have your full lineup and an opportunity to play a close game and get realistic reps…or maybe Joe is just blowing some hot air here

   He’s been clamoring for competitive crunch time games so the team can go through the process. So which is it?

7. Fair enough. I’ll believe him. It’s just annoying cause for some reason, the Hawks love talking shit

8. I am all for it. That’s the luxury of clinching #1 with 10 games left. Now we know it doesn’t work. We learned and moved.

9. It doesn’t matter if this was experimentation. We are outright better than them. This experimentation should not have been a loss, regardless.

10. He’s been consistent about saying they have to use the regular season as practice for the playoffs because there’s not time to practice during the regular season and people on here lose their fucking shit when we’re not just running our best sets on repeat

11. Yea at this point it’s really just wait for the playoffs. They’ve dominated the regular season so much they can lose out and still be first in the East, they can likely fuck around and still end up with the best record in the league.

    These games are infuriating to watch and I get why people would be worried. But it’s really just wait and see at this point if they can get it done in the playoffs.

12. Cap. If it was actually for practice they wouldn’t have subbed KP out for Pritchard on the last defensive stand. Tbh Joe sounds like a sore loser in the postgame tonight. “Oh we were just practicing, that’s why we lost, we were just testing things”. Give me a break

13. My coach is a sicko

14. Always his excuse on terrible decisions. Nothing is guaranteed in this league. Practice for what, exactly? The Finals that isn’t guaranteed? PLAY TO WIN THE GAME. 

15. Always some kind of excuse with this guy

16. Championship runs require versatile teams that can win in more then one way. I’m ok with the strategy.

17. Y’all keep treating Joe like he’s just a dumb kid… he plays chess with the game. He’s coaching for an entire season, working toward the playoffs. He’s been telling us and yet we still act crazy when they lose close games.

18. I need Tatum guarding Murray on that last possession.

19. Good luck with that against lillard

20. Cool reasoning. The absolute worst time to “experiment” with such a thing that contributes to a ridiculous loss that comes right after another horrendous loss.

21. I believe him. He doesn’t have an ego like that to lie. I’d even believe the train of thought of hiding tape before playoffs too.

22. I mean, I really do not care if we treat these games as practice, like you don’t want to fully relax. But we played a competitive game, nobody got injured, we played well, they won and good for them! We don’t need the wins, we might as well get prepared for anything.

    And the Red Sox won, so, I can’t be that mad about this lol.

23. This feels like he’s just dodging the fact that he didn’t adjust because then he is basically admitting to throwing a game in ot by using a strategy that clearly wasn’t working. Probably wants media off his back