The Boston Celtics aren’t just getting physical on the defensive side of the ball so players like Payton Pritchard can appear at post-practice media scrums looking like they just escaped from an angry mob. The NBA itself has become more physical recently, and in a league where you need to lean into every possible advantage to thrive, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla plans to put his team in pole position to succeed with physicality.
“I think halfway through last year, the league made a bit of a change where the game became much more physical,” said Mazzulla after a recent training camp practice. “I think it’s what’s best for the league, and we just have to adapt to that.”
“I think the game’s in a great place as far as how it’s being officiated, how it’s being called, how it’s being played,” added the Celtics coach. “And that’s one of the things that we have to continue to improve on— is just our continual physicality, regardless of which regular season or playoffs.”
Even if the league appears to have shifted to a more physical style of play as a whole, how games are called will still change from night to night, and Mazzulla suggested that every contest is its own beast in terms of how fouls are being called. “I think everything’s situational, right?” he asked. “I think it depends on time, score, bonus, not bonus, quarters one through three versus quarters four.”
“Are you winning? Are you not winning? I think it’s just so much of that. But at the same time, you want to develop a mindset of being a bit more physical. And again, if there’s an upside to those potential fouls, then that’s good. If there’s not an upside to them, then you have to correct them.”
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